Dark Rose
by Molvefman24
Summary: Dark Rose is a fanfiction following an OC, Jett Oswind, and his Team: JEMM. (Currently scrapped, please check out the new entry: Dark Rose: Blooming Thorns
1. Chapter 1: New Beginnings

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 1: Making Nice**

 _Hello, my name is Professor Ozpin, and welcome to our prestigous school. I must ask you: "Do you believe in destiny?" In a world of monsters, and make believe, it is good to cling to something so trival as the idea of destiny. However, I do believe that such magic as this exists, and it exists within us. Determination, strong will, and a drive to survive-all of these are the traits of all Hunters and Huntresses. Indeed, all of you would not be here before me if you did not inherently have one of these traits. I sense that there will be many adventures ahead of us here at Beacon. Meet all of them with the same drive that took you to our door step, and you will go far as a Hunter! Welcome to Beacon, students! Welcome home!_ _-Professor Ozpin, Opening Ceremony._

Beacon, Jett never expected to end up here. It's amazing what fake transcripts can do. But none of that mattered to Jett, he was focused on what he could learn here. On the secrets of becoming a Hunter. He looked down at the Scroll that he stole before coming here, and started wiping the information off of it. "This'l help me not get made..." he muttered to himself. So absorbed in what he was doing, Jett accidentally bumped into the next person in front of him. "Watch where you're going, you idiot!" the voice shouted. He looked up, and saw a pretty, Asian girl knocked over on the ground, clutching her belongings. "Oh, I'm sorry." he appoligized. "Let me help you." She snatched back her belongings from Jett's hands. "Don't touch my things, or I'll make you regret it." she sneered. Jett's eyebrows furrowed. "Why are you such a bitch?" he laughed. "I guess we'll never know." This girl, which Jett learned later was called Miranda, punched him in the face, and sent him flying across the auditorium. Jett smashed his face on a nearby pillar. "Wanna go, Ice Queen!?" Jett shouted, pulling out his swords. She smirked, and cocked her fist back. Her weapon coiled around her forearms, forming clawed gauntlets. She took a stance, bringing her arms to her side. "Die, worm!" she screamed. She made a beeline for Jett, pushing her way through the crowd.

"Enough!" a voice rang out. Suddenly, a force stopped Miranda mid-stride, holding her motionless. Jett found himself in a similar state, unable to move. The same force that held them in the air, now threw them on opposite sides of the room. Jett hit the ground hard, Miranda bowled over a group of students that gathered to watch. "Disperse!" the voice rang out again. Jett became aware that someone had started walking through the crowd; the crowd began to split around someone. Through his haze, Jett looks up and sees a middle-aged, blonde school teacher in glasses standing above him. The woman, who he figured out was Professor Goodwitch later on, helped to him to his feet. "This is not acceptable behavior for any student at this school!" she barked. "If this happens again, you will be immediately expelled." "Do you understand?" Jett sighed. "Yes, I understand." he replied. "And do you understand, Miss Juniper?" Goodwitch asked with disdain on her face. Miranda gave a hard stare at Jett, who stuck his tongue out at her behind the Professor's back. She sighed, but she agreed. "Good." Glynda curtly said, and walked back through the crowd towards the stage. She worked her back up to the microphone that Professor Ozpin had left empty moments earlier.

"Ahem. Tonight, all first year students will stay in the auditorium. Tomorrow, your intiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." She put down the microphone, and she gave a glare in his direction. Yikes! Scary! "Don't want to get on her bad side, right?" a voice behind him commented. "Yeah, Goodwitch is mean." "I wasn't talking about her, mate." Jett turned around, and was met with a scruffy-looking, medium-height, dirty blonde boy with...antlers? "Oh, hello. Who were talking about, then?" Jett asked, genuinely curious. The boy gestured to the Miranda girl that punched me. "The one you called 'Ice Queen'." He said with a laugh. "It seems like she has quite the temper." Jett nodded, looking at her. Not bad looking, for a hot-head. "Ah, where are my manners. Jett Oswind. You are?" he said, offering his hand. "Eccon Browning." the boy said cheerfully, taking Jett's hand and shaking it. "And, as you can tell, deer Faunus." The two noticed that the auditorium was mostly empy, so they started to walk for the exit.

 **...**

"So, you've been raised on the streets for most of your life?" Eccon asked, nibbling on a pumpkin seed. "Yep. All my li-I mean, yes. A good bit of my life, yes." Jett answered nervously. _I almost let it slip that I faked my transripts to get here._ He thought. _I need to be more careful about what I tell people._ Eccon gave a suspicious look, but quickly dropped it. The two boys had arrived at the other auditorium on the other side of campus. It took them a bit of time, though. Jett got them lost, and Eccon had to ask some passing second-years for directions. "So, what's your Semblance, Jett?" Eccon asked, pushing open the doors for the two of them. "Well it's-" Jett started, but was cut off with a pillow to the face. "Sorry!" a feminine voice exclaimed. Soft footsteps rushed in Jett's direction. He removed the pillow from his face, and was met with a young girl with silver eyes and black hair with red highlights. "So sorry! I met to throw that at Yang!" she apoligized. "HEY! You're on, sis!" an energetic feminine voice exclaimed from behind her. Another pillow was airborne, this one missed the girl in front of Jett, and nailed him in the face again. This time sending him back, and knocking him off his feet. "WHAT IS IT WITH WOMEN AND SUPER STRENGTH IN THIS PLACE?" Jett cried. Eccon helped him up, but he fell to the ground because he was dizzy. Another girl approached them, this one with blue eyes and wild, ass-length blonde hair. Jett noticed that both of them were in their pajamas.

"How late is it?" he asked the girls. "About 10 PM." said the girl with silver eyes. "By the way, I didn't catch your names." he stated. The girl with silver eyes straightened up with a smile. "Oh! Sorry about that! I'm Ruby Rose!" The other girl brought her fists together, with a smirk. "And I'm Yang! Yang Xiao-Long." Jett bowed. "My name is Jett Oswind. It's a pleasure to meet you lovely ladies." Ruby blushed, and looked away scraching her head. Yang beamed, and leaned in to whisper to her younger sister. "I like this guy." "Yang!"

"So, think we should be getting to bed, Jett?" Eccon asked. "We have our initiation tomorrow, after all." Oh yeah! We do have that tomrrow! "Well, have a good night, ladies." "Bye!" Ruby chimed, turning to leave with her sister to go to bed. The boys turned and did the same.


	2. Chapter 2: It's Go Time

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 2: It's Go Time**

 _Gods, how long did I sleep?_ Jett opened his eyes to the light pouring in through the big pane windows that overlooked the courtyard. And he was the only one in the room! "Oh, shit! Where is everyone!?" He fished his Scroll out of his pocket, and checked the time. "8AM?" The intiation is at 9!" Jett frantically searched through his Scroll for the location of the locker rooms. "Ah, there it is!" He raced out of the doors, and down the halls.

 **...**

8:15AM "Made it!" he exclaimed. Jett shoved the doors open, to find a group of suprised teens. "This is the right locker room, right?" Jett asked, slightly confused at their expressions. "Yeah, but where have you been? Wake-up was at 7:30AM." One of them answered. "Sleep well?" Eccon asked, who just appeared at my side. Jett jumped, and bumped into a someone behind him. "YOU!" a voice screamed. He whipped around and found him face-to-face with the girl who punched him halfway to Mistral. "Ice Queen!" he exclaimed. "That's Weiss' nickname!" a voice rang out. "HEY!" Miranda rolled up her sleeve, and grabbed Jett by the collar of his shirt, lifting him into the air. "Hey! It was an accident!" he stated. Jett realized that she was not listening, as the fire burning in her eyes bore into Jett.

"Apoligize. Now." she demanded. Jett smirked. "And if I don't?" Her grip on his collar tightened. "Then I break every one of your bones." Jett acted like he thought about it for a minute, then shook his head with a smile. "No way." Miranda's eyes widened, and she cocked her fist back. _I guess I have to do this now..._ He thought. Jett closed his eyes, and time slowed down. He focused intently, and time came to a crawl, before coming to a stop. He removed Miranda's hand from his shirt, and dropped. "Just for good measure.." Jett grabbed her by the arm, temporaily moving her into his timestream, and repositioned her with her arm wrenched behind her back. "Good.." he muttered. Jett closed his eyes, and let go of the power he had been holding, resuming time to normal.

"How did you-" Miranda started. "Move you?" Jett finished, a smirk forming on his face. "That's my Semblance: Time Warp." He released her from the arm lock he put her in. "I didn't want to show it until the initiation, but you had threatened me." He stated. Jett cockily walked around Miranda while she stood there in a mixure of shock and anger. "You know, didn't Goodwitch tell you not to do something like this again? Would be a shame if someone were to let her know about this. Especially right before the test." She untensed herself, and sighed. "What. Do. You. Want?" she asked calmly. Jett spun on his heel, and started walking towards her. "Simple. Stop treating me like an enemy!" he said, becoming visibly irritated. "I made a mistake and knocked over your stuff. Get over it!" He threw up his hands. "Things happen-accidents happen! You put your anger in check, and I think that you'll make a great teammate." Jett looked up, and saw that Miranda had sat down on a bench and dropped her head. "Fine. I apoligize, I'm sorry." she said, emotionless. Jett felt a hand on his shoulder. "C'mon, you better get cleaned up for the test." Eccon reminded. Jett grunted and headed for the showers.

 **...**

Now with all that drama out of the way, Jett could focus on what he was good at: Killing Grimm. Goodwitch had slipped him the number for his rocket-propelled locker the night before while he was asleep. Apparently the students were supposed to get the number through their Scrolls? Doesn't matter. He reached his locker, and entered the code he was given. It opened with a beep. His jacket and his sword-revolvers were hung up neatly in the back. Two transforming gun-swords, that he aptly named, "Ebony & Ivory". He grabbed them, stashing them in gun form in his holsters on his waist. He grabbed his jacket, and closed the locker. "Ready to go?" Eccon asked. Jett looked at him. He was wearing a light green hoodie, with the hood pulled up part of the way, so as not to bother his antlers. He had what looked like a large pole on his back, attached to a base of some kind. "What is that on your back?" Jett asked, cocking his head to the side. Eccon suddenly looked embarassed. "This!? Oh, it's nothing much. Just a polearm." he answered nervously. Jett gave a look, but dropped it. "Let's get to the cliff." he said. The boys filed into a group heading for the school doors, and disappeared into the crowd.


	3. Chapter 3: New Allies

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 3: New Allies**

"Well, thank you for being here, students." Professor Ozpin said, adjusting his spectacles. Jett looked around nervously at his surroundings. All of the first-year students had gathered on a cliff overlooking an emerald green forest. It was a 50 foot drop to the floor of the forest from where they were standing. _How exactly does Ozpin expect us to get down there?"_ Jett thought to himself. "This is going to be awesome!" a voice next to him excitedly shouted. Jett looked to his right, and saw Ruby next to him. "Oh. Hey there, Ruby." She looked at Jett, and gave him the biggest smile he had seen.

"Ahem." Jett whipped his head around, and saw Ozpin giving him and Ruby a scowl. "Sorry.." Jett apoligized. "As I was saying, the objective of today's test is to find the forest temple, and secure the artifacts within." Ozpin stated, holding up a holoraphic tablet. Goodwitch strode up next him. "Also, there has been some talk of teams amongst you. Well, it's time to put those rumors to rest. You will be assigned teammates. Today." Glynda started. Jett heard Ruby whimper next to him. "After you land on the forest floor, the fiirst person you make eye contact with will be your partner for the next 4 years." _What? How is any of that fair?_ Jett wondered.

"If you would, students." Ozpin said, gesturing behind them. Jett turned around, and saw discoloured patches of grass behind them going in a line."You will be following your own landing strategy to get down the forest." _Well, that answers one question.._ Jett thought. "Umm, Professor?" a voice asked down the line. Jett looked and saw a scruffy blonde boy in ancient-looking combat armor with a sword at his waist. "Yes, Jaune?" the professor answered, giving the man a tired look. Jett smiled, and positioned himself on the patch of grass behind him. "So, this "landing strategy". You're dropping us off, or something?" Jaune continued, looking nervously. "No. you will be falling." Ozpin stated calmly. Jett dropped his head and laughed silently. One first-year launched, then two, then three. "Did you give everyone parachutes...?" Jaune pressed, noticing the lack of people at his side anymore. "No. You will be using your own landing strategy." Jett looked to his side and saw Ruby beam before being launched into the air. "One more question. What exactly is a landing-" Jaune started, but was cut off when it was his turn to be launched into the air. Ozpin sighed, and went back to reading his tablet. _My turn._ The grass beneath Jett's feet rumbled, and suddenly, he was airborne, soaring through the sky.

Several minutes passed of falling before Jett tried to react. He pulled his revolvers out of his holsters, and closed his eyes. The world once again slowed down, and he opened his eyes to scan the environment. "There!" he exclaimed. He reached out for the tree branch in front of him, but missed it. "Damn.." He cursed. _Well, now is as good as time as any.._ he thought. Jett focused his Aura into his body. Electricity sparked and arced all over his body. He continued to focus his Aura until it became almost unbearable. Jett's eyes snapped open, and he released his pent up Aura, and disappeared in a flash of light. Trees, shrubs, Grimm, and other students flew in a blur before his eyes as he was flung forward at a sickening pace. Suddenly, as quickly as it started, it ended in an instant, leaving a scorch mark at his feet as he landed.

Jett looked behind him towards the cliff face he was launched from, and discovered that he had moved roughly 500 meters in an instant. "Whew. It's been a while since I did a long-range teleport." Jett grimmaced, and clutched his side. "That took more out of me than normal. I need to rest for a minute." Jett heard a twig snap behind him, then he heard he snarling. Grimm. He tried to turn around, but dropped to one knee. _Beowolves, judging by the snarls._ he thought, trying to raise his gun at them. They stood at the endge of the clearing, a pack of four of them, with the Alpha of the group standing on his hind legs in the middle of them. The Alpha howled, then leapt in the air. _Wow, this is how it ends: dying at the hands of a stupid Beowolf._ Jett thought, as he closed his eyes, accepting his fate. *Shiiiiing* The sound blade cutting flesh cut across the tension. As Jett opened his eyes, he saw the blade of a halbeard had pierced the chest of the Alpha Beowolf.

"Need a hand?" a voice asked, and Jett could sense a hand in front of his face. He opened his eyes, and saw Eccon holding a large polearm, Grimm dust falling off of it, and dissolving before it hit the ground. Jett dropped his head, and started laughing. Eccon jumped back, but untensed when he realized that it was Jett that was laughing. "What's so funny, Jett?" he asked, cocking his head to the side. Jett continued laughing and laughing. He laughed so hard, he hurt his throat from laughing so hard. He finally started to calm down after several minutes, hiccuping himself back to normal. "What's funny is that I accepted my death. I thought that me working so hard to get here was in vain, all because of a Beowolf." he chuckled. "And that you would be my saviour, and my future partner, of all people." Eccon looked offended at that last part, but he let Jett continue. "It just figures, you know. The first person I get along with now happens to be my partner for the next 4 years." Jett laughed. At that point, Eccon started to laugh, too. The two boys stood and sat there cracking up for several minutes, before another howl stopped them dead. Jett gave Eccon a nervous look, and gulped. "We should go."

 **...**

"How much farther is this temple?" Jett asked. The boys had been fighting off Beowolves and Ursi, all the while finding their way to the center of the forest. "Not too much farther, I hope." Eccon answered, letting out a sigh. Suddenly, a bush rustled behind them. The boys turned on their heels, and readied their weapons. "Ahh!" a voice exclaimed, and a figure was thrown from the bushes. "Ugh, my head.." the figure murmured. Neither of the boys untensed, and remained on guard with this stranger. The figure picked itself, and dusted it's shoulders off. The figure had it's back to us, and it wore a green cloak that covered it's head. The figure removed it's hood, and revealed a girl with shoulder-length brown hair. She noticed that there were people behind her, and spun around, drawing two, slim longswords out of hidden scabbards on her back.

"Are you friendly?" Jett asked, still tense. The girl didn't answer, but instead made a beeline for the boys. Jett transformed his revolvers back into swords, and took a defensive stance, anticipating the blow to come. But it never came. Jett looked up, and saw that the girl had went past them, and stabbed an Ursa in the chest with her swords, stopping the creaure dead. She violently ripped the swords out, and let the Ursa fall to the ground and dissolve. "To you, yes." she answered, pointing a sword at the pile of ash on the ground. "To them? No." The girl slid her swords back into their scabbards, and dust off her palms. She composed herself, and gave Jett large smile. She ran up to Jett, and hugged him. "It's so good to see you, Jett!" she exclaimed with joy. Eccon stood down, and put his weapon on his back. _Even though she's a girl, she's strong!_ He thought. _How does she know me, though? It's as if she met me before._ Jett made an exasperated look to Eccon, as if to say. "Help me". Eccon moved up and put a hand on the mysterious stranger's shoulder. "Hey, back up. Who are you?" he asked. She remembered where they were, and jumped back. "Oh, sorry about that!" she exclaimed, scratching her head. She looked Jett directly in the eyes. "You don't remember me, do you Jett?" she asked. Jett, still looking confused, simply shook his head. The girl beamed. "I'm your sister, Matilda, silly."

"My-what?" Jett asked, visibly shocked. "Your sister." she stated calmly. "You really don't remember me? Not at all?" "No! I don't have a sister! I don't have any family, I'm an orphan!" he shouted, covering his head. Matilda put a comforting hand on Jett's shoulder. "You weren't always an orphan, Jett." she explained. "C'mon, sit down. I'll explain." Jett, still shocked, gulped, and sat down.

 **...**

"Okay, that explains quite a bit" Jett sighed. "Like, why I remember being on the streets all my life. Or why I don't remember why I don't remember you, or Mom, or Dad." Turns out that Jett's mother, Millie, had an affair with one of the dock workers, and soon she was with child. Matilda's father, Jett Sr., was outraged. Jett Sr. tried to live with the fact that his wife cheated on him, as he raised the child for the next 4 years. Eventually, it became too much for him, and he accidentally killed Millie in a fit of rage, in front of young Jett Jr. Feeling ashamed, he wiped the child's memory, and sent him to an ophanage in Central Vale. Soon after, Jett Sr. was arrested for murdering his wife, and is currently serving a life sentence in a high-security Atlesian prison. "That sonnofabitch!" Jett shouted, slamming a fist on the ground, cracking it. "How could he do that to her!?" He got to his feet, and pulled out one of his revolvers. He switched it to sword mode, and rushed at the nearest tree. "AHHHHHHHHHH!" he screamed. Jett swung the blade at the tree as hard as he could, and cut the tree in half with one slice, the halves of the tree falling to either side with a thud. Jett huffed, trying to catch his breath, and let his sword drop as he fell to his knees, crying. _Why did I have to find this shit out today, of all days?_


	4. Chapter 4:Teamwork

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 4: Teamwork**

"Jett?" Matilda called out his name, but he didn't respond. He lay there, kneeling on the ground, letting his tears flows. "Jett?" Matilda called out again. No response, again. She walked over to his side, and put a hand on his shoulder. Jett's eyes snapped opened, and he violently moved her hand of his shoulder with his own. "Don't. Touch. Me." He growled, giving Matilda the dirtiest look he could manage. She recoiled, then gave him a look of hurt. Eccon walked in between the two. "Lets scout the area ahead for the temple, Matilda." he offered. "It'll give him some time to think" Matilda looked back at Jett, but nodded. The two headed for the treeline, and disappeared into the underbrush. Jett closed his eyes again, and sighed. _I WILL find out why he did this to you, Mother._ Jett thought. _Because of this man, I was robbed of a normal life. I need to find out why...for my sake._

Jett spent what felt like a half an hour sitting with his legs curled up to his chest. _Well, enough feeling sorry for myself. Time to find the others._ He thought. He pushed himself off his feet, and placed his guns in their holsters, as he walked in the same direction that Eccon and Matilda were headed. "Ahhhhhh!" a voice screamed to his right. Jett turned, only to see an Asian girl thrown at him by an Ursa, bowling him over. "Who the-" "YOU!" Jett opened his eyes, and found Miranda laying on top of him. "Ice Queen!" "Stop calling me that!" Miranda was a slender Asian girl, with green eyes and green hair, currently staring at Jett with a mix of embarassment and anger.

"Please get off me." She flushed even harder, and scrambled off his chest and dropped into a defensive stance. He followed suit, bracing his hands against the ground, and launching his body forward with a handspring. He pulled out his weapons, transforming them from revolvers into swords in a flash. Three more Ursa emerged from the underbrush around them, forcing the two to face opposite directions, moving backwards towards each other until their backs touched. Jett looked over his shoulder at Miranda, and saw her loading Dust crystals into her gauntlets.

"So, those are your weapons?" Jett asked. "Yes. I made Shredder myself." she answered cooly. Her gaunlets were made of sterling silver, notched with metal plates to protect the backside of her forearms. The metal pieces joined with a small metal plate on the back of her hand, which housed two 11in spikes, with notches along the bases, which looked like the notches in gears. On the underside of the gauntlets were two glowing red openings, which she was feeding the Dust crystals into. "Ready to do this, Princess?" Jett asked excitedly. Suddenly, Miranda dropped her arms, and put a hand on her hip. "Really?" "What?" "Princess?" "Want me to call you Ice Queen again?" Miranda sighed. "I'd like it if you called me by my name." she answered. "Which is?" Jett asked, still in a defensive stance. "Miranda. Miranda Juniper." Jett smiled. "I like Princess. Suits you better." he said. Miranda rolled her eyes, and dropped back into her stance. "Whatever." she said simply. The Ursa, which the two forgot up until now, inched ever closer to the pair. "Lets do this!" Jett shouted, launching himself at the two Ursi in front of him.

Jett slashed at the Ursa closest to him, but the creature swatted the sword out of Jett's grasp. Panicked, Jett jumped to the right, and ducked under one of the creatures arms. He dove for his weapon behind the creature, but was kicked in the chest by one of the creatures on his right. "Here!" Miranda shouted. Jett spotted her throwing a Fire Dust crystal through the air towards him. Jett jumped backwards, and let the crystal fall between him and the Ursa in front of him. "Say goodnight." Jett muttered, changing his remaining sword into a gun. He fired a round at the exposed Dust crystal as it fell in front of the beast's chest. The beast looked up at the crystal, and, in an instant, the Grimm was vaporized in a display of fire.

"Good thinking!" Jett exclaimed, giving Miranda a thumbs-up. She slightly blushed before shaking her head, focusing on the fight. She dispatched the first Ursa beautifully: right hook to the face, jumping uppercut, ending with a cut across the neck with her claws. The beast fell to the ground, and dissolved like the first. "Jett? Your weapon!" Miranda exclaimed, reminding him. Oh! He had indeed forgot about Ivory, which lay on the ground behind another Ursa. Jett closed his eyes, and focused his Aura. Energy crackled around him with restrained power. Jett flashed forward past the Ursa, grabbed his blade, and somersaulted over the beast, slicing it's head off before landing and turning off his Semblance.

 _One more._ Jett thought. Miranda dropped out of a defensive stance, and turned to face Jett. In that instant, the last Ursa jumped from behind Miranda. "Miranda!" Jett cried, trying to run to her side. Too late. The Ursa's blow connected, raking it's claws across Miranda's back. "Nooo!" Miranda stood there for a second, before straightening up her body. She cracked her neck and her knuckles, and gave a Jett a smirk. _What the hell? A blow like that should have killed her._ Jett thought. Ribbons of emerald energy eminated off of Miranda's frame, causing her to glow. She snapped her eyes open, and they were glowing! Green energy pulsated from her pupils outwards to the edges of her irises, making her eyes look more alive than they had been. She turned around to a confused Ursa, which tried to swing it's paw the radiating girl. She lazily put up an arm, deflected the blow easily, walking ever closer to the Grimm. The Ursa got down on all-fours, and roared inches from Miranda's face. "You...need a breath mint." she growled. She cocked her fist back, and punched the Grimm square in the jaw, obliterating it in one hit. The Grimm dissolved into black powder, before being blown away by the wind.


	5. Chapter 5: The Temple

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 5: The Temple**

"Whoa! What was that?" Jett asked, astonished. Miranda sighed, and dusted off her shoulders. "It's my Semblance, Kinetic Retribution." she explained, looking up at the sky. "That is sooooo cool!" Jett exclaimed. She scoffs. "It's nothing to be worked up about. People here have way better Semblances." The sound of gunfire, screaming teens, and roaring Grimm cut across the sky. "Let's find that temple, Princess." Jett stated.

 **...**

"There it is!" Jett exclaimed pointing into the distance. About a mile ahead, through the trees, you could make out a half-destroyed dias in the middle of a clearing with pedestals ringed in a half-moon shape with some sort of an object on them. They were too far away to see the objects on the pedestals. "Miss us?" a voice behind them asked. Jett turned his head, and saw Eccon and Matilda behind them. Matilda had a worried look on her face when Jett looked at her. "Are you...better now, Jett?" she asked nervously. Jett gave her a wide smile. "All good! Got to kill some Grimm, and ran into an old aquaitance." Jett said, motioning towards Miranda. Matilda just now noticed that there was another girl next to Jett. Matilda broke into a huge grin, and ran up and hugged Miranda as hard as she could. "Partner!" _Partner!?_ Miranda sighed. "Please let go of me, Crete." Miranda asked calmly. Matilda let go of her, and took a step back, still beaming. "You two were already partners?" Eccon asked, giving this new girl a skeptical look. "Yeah! She was the first person I locked eyes with when we got here. Remeber the rules?" Matilda finished. Eccon and Jett looked at each other, and laughed. "What?" Jett waved her down. "Don't worry about it. Let's just get to this temple."

The group walked up to the outside of the dias. From here, Jett could tell that several of the artifacts were gone. In fact, there were only four left; just enough for one more team. The artifacts were...chess pieces? There's four duplicates of a silver King left on the pedestals. More explosions and gunfire resounded in the distance. "We'd better grab the artifacts, and go help out." Jett stated. He walked up to the closet piece, and picked it up, stashing it in his back pocket. The rest of them did the same. More noises coming over the treeline, and they sounded like they were getting closer. "Everyone got one?" Jett asked, turning to the group. They silently nodded, and headed for the noise.

The team barely stepped outside of the dias when a scream to their right caught their attention, and a yellow figure came screaming from the distance, followed by a huge Deathstalker on his tail. "Help!" The young man screamed, narrowly dodging a blow from the creature. "Get behind us!" Jett barked, readying his weapon. The blonde boy gulped, but nodded, and scrambled behind the team. The rest of them dropped into a defensive stance. Matilda threw her swords together, and combined them into a bastard greatsword. She dashed forward first, and swung at the creature's face. The sword clanged off the Deathstalker's shell harmlessly. The creature reared up, and thrust it's pincer at Matilda. *Ting* Miranda jumped in front of her, and reflected the blow with the back of her gauntlet, throwing the beast off balance.

"Eccon!" Miranda shouted. Eccon, casting a suddenly serious look, dashed through the empty space between him and the Deathstalker, both hands gripping his polearm. The Grimm roared and stabbed at the approaching Faunus with it's stinger. Eccon dodged left, then right, then jumped into the air, bringing the blade of his polearm down over his head in an arc. The Grimm roared again, and brought up it's left pincer to block the blow. Eccon grinned, and, at the last second before connecting his blow, he changed his polearm into a shotgun in a flash moving of machinery. "Eat lead!" he exclaimed. He pulled the trigger, and fired down into the pincer, punching a hole though the Grimm's appendage. Eccon used the kickback from the shotgun to vault over the Deathstalker's head, transforming his shotgun back into a polearm. *Slice* Eccon used his forward momentum to cut through the creature's stinger. "Heads up, Jett!" Eccon exclaimed, landing on the opposite side of the Grimm.

Jett closed his eyes, and time slowed down once more. He knew what he had to do. Using his guns, he shot at the slowly moving Deathstalker, so that it would be focused on him when he resumes time. Sprinting as fast as he can, Jett closed the gap between him and the Deathstalker. Using the creature's right pincer, he spingboarded past the suspended stinger, landing on the Grimm's upright tail. He bounced off, and kicked the stinger as hard as Aura-powered muscles could, detatching it and sending it forward towards Miranda. Jett resumed time. "Miranda! Heads up!" Jett shouted, teleporting off to a safe distance.

The Deathstalker, noticing that Jett shot at it, started to give the boy chase. Miranda threw her fists together, and looked up: her eyes blazed the emerald green from earlier. Her Aura kicked up into high gear as well, causing her to explode in a font of green energy. She dashed forward, grabbing the stinger flying in her direction, dragging it along with her. The Deathstalker, now heard a different noise, and turned in time to see Miranda charging at it. The creature hissed, and swiped a pincer at her. "No you don't!" Eccon exclaimed, deflecting the blow with his weapon. Eccon gave Jett a look. Jett nodded in response, and changed his guns back into swords. The two supported Miranda as she pushed forward towards the Deathstalker at a break-neck pace.

"Together!" Jett shouted. The boys forced the Grimm's pincers down against the ground as Miranda advanced. "Take this, damn you!" Miranda screamed, eyes set ablaze in green fire. She punched the back of the singer with the all of the stored power that she had taken from the earlier blow, forcing the stinger between the Grimm's many eyes. She continued her assault, punching the stinger over and over again, letting out all her anger on the Deathstalker with her fists. After several minutes, she stopped and let her arms hang by her sides; the Deathstalker had stopped moving a little while ago.

As suddenly as it had started, the encounter was over, and silence had overtaken the forest. Not even the sounds of fighting from before could be heard. Then it suddenly dawned on Jett: 4 first-years took out a Deathstalker on our own! Jett thrust his fist into the air, and started cheering. The action startled his other teammates, who thought that they were under attack again. After they saw it was just Jett, the team relaxed. "What's up?" Eccon asked. "Do you not realize what we just did?" Jett asked incredulously. Matilda stood up. "No, what?" Jett pointed back to the dissolving Deathstalker. "We took on a Deathstalker on our own! Us! First-years! In our entrance exam!" Jett exclaimed. The team still looked confused, but it slowly dawned on them what Jett was talking about. And each one of them dropped their confused looks for one of amazement. "We did!" Eccon cheered. "Not bad." Miranda added. Matilda frowned. "At least you did more than me.." she whined. Jett walked over to his sister, and put an arm around her shoulder. "Don't worry about it, sis. There's always next time." Jett laughed. The three teenagers stood their laughing, while Miranda stood off to the side, smiling. "Hey, where'd the blonde boy go?" Matilda asked, looking around. She spotted two groups of students climbing up the side of the cliff. "Probably going to the same place we should be going." Jett chuckled. "C'mon, let's go."


	6. Chapter 6: This Will Be The Day

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 6: This Will Be The Day**

"Congratulations on a successful initiation, students!" Professor Ozpin exclaimed into a microphone. After getting back up the cliff, Professor Glynda met the newly formed team at the edge, and congratulated them. After all the details were explained, the team headed for the Auditorium to finish the initiation. Jett looked around for someone he recognized, and he spotted Ruby in the crowd. Jett looked back at his teammates, and scratched his head. "I'll meet up with you guys on stage!" And, before Matilda could protest, he disappeared into the crowd. "Scuse' me." Jett muttered. "Pardon me." Jett finally made his way up to the front, and to Ruby's side. Ruby, not noticing Jett next to him, continued to listen to Ozpin's speech. Jett leaned down to Ruby's ear. "Boo." he whispered. "Eeeeeek!" Ruby squeaked, jumping a bit. She whipped her head around, and accidentally bumped heads with Jett. He recoiled, holding his head with his hand. "Sorry..." Ruby apoligized, giving a small smile. Jett blushed.

"Nah, it's okay." Jett smiled, noticing Ruby's other teammates staring at their exchange. "I just wanted to ask how your fight went? My team beat a Deathstalker." He faked like he was flexing, bringing Ruby to giggle a bit. "Did you really?" she asked. "Yup! Miranda did the finishing blow! And, technically, there were only three of us that took it down. Matilda was knocked out." Ruby went wide-eyed. "YOU REALLY DID?" she gasped, a smile coming to her lips. "That's so cool!" "Ahem." Ruby, apparently forgot about her teammates standing behind her, waiting to be introduced. "Oh! Sorry..." Ruby straightened up, and put a hand up gesturing to her team. "This is Team RWBY!" Ruby exclaimed. "And we beat a Deathstalker AND a Nevermore!" Jett looked at Ruby skeptically. "Did you really?" he asked. "Well...we had help from Team JNPR for the Deathstalker, but you took the Nevermore on our own!" she explained. "This is Blake." Ruby continued, gesturing to the dark-haired beauty with golden eyes in the middle. "Hey.." Blake said, looking uninterested. "This is Weiss." A girl with snow-white hair and piercing blue eyes curtsied. "It is a pleasure to meet you, Jett." "Likewise, Miss Schnee." Weiss looked up in surprise, but smiled. "And you already met Yang." The blonde girl that he met on the first day he arrived at Beacon beamed. "Hey, what's up, J-Man?" she asked, a smirk on her face. Ruby looked over at the crowd. "Do you not have a team?" Ruby asked. Jett gave her a confused look. "What do you mean?" Jett asked. "The ceremony is over, and I didn't see you on stage with your team." she finished. The sound of feedback resounded through the hall, directing the attention of the audtiorium back to Ozpin

"The ceremony isn't over quite yet, students." Ozpin stating, straightening up his scarf. "We had four last minute applicants, that did exceptionally in the entrance exam." Jett became acutely aware that all of Team RWBY was staring at him. Ozpin looked directly at Jett, and continued on. "This team took down a Deathstalker with only three people, and no outside help, which is unheard of. With the exception of one team." "He's talking about us, Ren!" an excited feminine voice said from behind. "Nora, please.." said another exhausted male voice. "Jett Oswind, Eccon Browning, Matilda Crete, and Miranda Juniper. Please come to the stage." Ozpin asked. Jett froze. He felt a soft hand touch him on his back. "Go on." Ruby whispered, giving him a light push. "Can I get the number to your Scroll?" Jett asked. Ruby smiled. "After."

Jett looked back at the stage, and saw his teammates already up there. He scrambled to get through the crowd. Jett made it to the stairs, and ran up them. "Sorry..." Ozpin gave his full attention to the teens. "All of you have demonstrated what it means to be a Hunter today. So, you will, from this day forward, be known as team JEMM, with your leader: Jett Oswind." Ozpin announced. "Congratulations, children." Matilda flung her arms around Jett, and hugged him tightly. "I knew you could do it, brother!" she exclaimed. "Please...stop..." he mumbled. She let go, and blushed. "It looks like it's shaping up to be an...interesting year." Ozpin finished wistfully.


	7. Chapter 7: School Life

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 7: School Life**

"Ugh, I hate uniforms..." Jett stated, sighing. He looked down at the black and red uniform they were given to wear, and gave a look of disgust. "It's not that bad." Eccon laughed, dressed in a similar fashion to Jett. "I do miss my hoodie, though.." Jett knocked on the bathroom door. "C'mon, girls! I need to use the bathroom!" He yelled. "You can't rush perfection!" Matilda stated cheerfully. After the ceremony, the newly formed Team JEMM was given a dorm to call their own. A co-ed dorm. Jett certainly wasn't used to this, being old-fashioned as he was. The door finally opened, revealing Matilda and Miranda in their school uniforms. "Skirts?" Eccon asked, confused. "I know, right?" Miranda groaned. "I wish they would just let me wear jeans!" The girls walked by Jett, and to their beds. "All yours!" Matilda chimed. "Finally!"

Jett walked into the bathroom, and closed the door behind him, locking it. Focusing on his reflection in the mirror, he fake flexed in front of it. "Hello, ladies!" He said to his reflection. Jett held his chin to the side to get a better look at his face. He ruffled his messy pink-streaked, black hair with his free hand. "I need a hair cut soon..." Jett mumbled to himself. He let go of his cheek, and looked at the rest of his face. Stubble had started to form around his mouth, giving him the barest whisper of a goatee on his face. Using his hand, he pulled the skin on his right cheekbone taut, bringing his scar on his right eye into view. "I could probably find someone to take care of this for me. Nahhh." He muttered. Jett looked into his eyes. He has heterochromia, or multi-coloured eyes. His left eye is an abyss black colour, while his right is light pink. Jett jumped, remembering that he had his contacts in the cabinet behind the mirror. He opened it and saw a plastic container. He screwed open the container, and a black right contact lens lie floating there in the solution. He attached the contact to his right index, and dropped it into the adjacent eye. Jett moved the eyes several times, then smiled.

"Jett, c'mon!" Eccon shouted, pounding on the door. "We're gonna be late for class!" "Coming!" He looked in the mirror one last time, ruffled his hair again, and then walked towards the door. He opened it in time to see Eccon going to knock on it again. "Good, you finis-" Eccon started, but stopped when he looked at Jett's face. "What?" Jett asked, confused. Eccon started to say something, but was cut off by a girl yelling across the hall. "WE'RE GOING TO BE LATE, YOU DUNCE!" Weiss? Jett raced to the door leading out into the hall, and caught a glimpse of Team RWBY sprinting down the hall. Jett looked down at his Scroll. 8:50am. "Classes are in 10 minutes!" Jett exclaimed. The girls jumped off their beds looking panicked. "After them!" Jett shouted. The team rushed out their dorm, and followed Team RWBY down the hall.

"How. Far. Is this. Class?" Jett gasped, doubling over to catch his breath before continuing to run after the girls. JEMM had been following RWBY ever since they left the dorms, ran their way through the courtyard towards the classrooms. Team RWBY finally stopped in front of two open, wooden door, and piled inside. "There it is!" Jett exclaimed, dashing inside the room. The rest of Team JEMM followed behind, closing the door behind them.

"Oh ho! New students!" a jolly voice exclaimed from the front of the classroom. Jett turned to see a jolly, middle-aged man in a waistcoat with grey hair and sculptured grey mustache standing at the front of the classroom with his hands on his stomach, letting out a hearty laugh. _Must be the teacher._ Jett thought. "Come in! Come in, and take a seat!" the teacher exclaimed. Jett heard a *whoosh* and looked to his teammates already in their seats in the front. "Ah." Jett strode over to where the rest of JEMM we're sitting, but was pushed back by another student, who was built like a linebacker. The student turned around, gave Jett a shit-eating grin, and sat down next to Miranda-where Jett was going to sit. Anger started to flood his face, when suddenly he felt a small hand on his shoulder. "Don't bother. That's Cardin Winchester." a feminine voice from behind exclaimed. He turned, and saw Ruby behind him. "So?" Jett asked, angrily. "Sooo, his family is influential, or something. Leave him alone." she explained. "Come sit with us: we have a seat open." Jett unclenched his fist, and sighed. "Fine.." Jett looked back at Cardin and Miranda. She gave a 'help me' look, but Jett just shrugged. He walked over to where Team RWBY was sitting, and sat down between Weiss and Ruby. "A pleasure to see you again, Jett." Weiss said. "Thank you. Likewise, Weiss. Yang, Blake." he said, nodding at the other two girls. Yang and Blake collectively said hello.

"Grimm." the professor started. Jett's focus was immediately on the man as he started his lecture. "The creatures of Grimm, the Monsters in the Dark, the Endless Night, the Neverending Black-these creatures go by many names! But I call them: prey! I am Professor Port, and soon you, future Hunters and Huntresses, will too!" he finished, adding a wink to Yang in the front row at the "Huntresses" part. Yang laughed and scratched her head uncomfortably. _Geeze. Can this guy be any more grandiose?_ Jett thought, sighing. *blah blah blah* The professor started into a story about him fighting off Grimm. It was so boring that Jett could barely keep his eyes from closing. Jett looked to his right, and saw Weiss diligently taking notes on the lesson, paying close attention to the story. Jett looked to his left and saw Ruby dozing off, not taking notes. Jett had an idea. "Lesser of two evils.." he muttered, pulling out his Scroll. With a few taps, he brought up a recording feature. He smiled slightly, and placed the device on the table in front of him to record the lesson. Jett then pulled up his hood, and fell asleep. *blah blah blah* *blah blah blah* *blah blah blah* Suddenly, Jett could feel heat coming off of Weiss. _Huh?_ Jett pulled off his hood, and saw her gritting her teeth, staring at an oblivious Ruby, who was balancing three books on her hand with her pencil. She dropped the books and the pencil on the table when the teacher looked her, and gave a sheepish grin. Ruby's pencil fell onto the floor near Jett's feet. He was about to reach down and get the utensil for her, when she dove under his chair, and grabbed it herself. Ruby popped up in between Jett's legs, and she looked up at him with a smile, her head cocked slightly to the side. Jett turned beet-red, grabbing his hood, forcing it over his face, and closing it tightly. Ruby climbed back up into her seat with a slightly confused expression.

"So, does anyone here think that they would make an excellent Hunter?" Professor Port asked, his voice booming. Jett's hand and Weiss' hand shot into the air. "Oh ho! Two eager students!" the professor announced. Jett took the hood off of his head, and saw that Professor Port was looking at the two them. Jett looked over at his team, and saw Eccon and Matilda giving him a thumbs-up. Jett sighed, but got up and made his way down to the front of the room.

 **...**

15 minutes later, Professor Port came back with Weiss' and Jett's weapons. He gratefully snapped his holsters to his waist, and readied his swords. Weiss likewise readied herself, spinning the revolving chamber in the center of her rapier with her hand. "When the both of you are ready, we'll begin the challenge!" the Professor exclaimed, striding over to two cover cages, which exuded vicious snarling from inside. "Ready!" the two exclaimed simultaniously. "Start!" The professor, uncovered the cages and unlatched them in a single motion, revealing two enraged Boarbatusks. Jett and Weiss stiffened, anticipating the first move. The first Tusk charged at Jett, who rolled out of the way, transforming Ivory into a gun and opened fire on the Tusk targetting him.

Weiss likewise dodged the first attack from the second Tusk. She rolled the chamber on her rapier with her hand, letting it land on red. The blade glowed crimson. She focused, and fired a volley of fire at the first Tusk, which spun out of the way. Jett suddenly stood up straight, and put his guns away. The Tusk on the opposite side of the room noticed this, and went into an all-out roll attack headed for Jett. He closed his eyes, and slowly raised his hand to point it at the approaching creature. Time slowed to a stop. Jett opened his eyes, and they both were glowing pink, despite him having a contact in his right eye. "Die.." he whispered. He closed his fist, and time resumed. The approaching Tusk was suddenly hit with a hundred sword slashes at once, disintigrating into dust after so many hits at once. Jett fell to his knees, his Aura disappearing rapidly. Jett huffed, trying to catch his breath, his chest heaving. The remaining Tusk saw Jett in this state, and rolled towards him at full speed. Inches from Jett, a white snowflake glyph sprung into existence in front of him. "Hit it's belly! There's no armor-" Ruby started to yell from the sidelines. "Stop telling me how to fight!" Weiss shouted, looking enraged. Using her hand, Weiss flipped the glyph, turning it black. The change in the glyph repulsed the Grimm, making it land on it's back. She flipped into the air, and landed on a glyph she created above her, pushing herself off of it. She landed next to the Tusk, her rapier stabbed into it's chest. Weiss stood up, yanking her weapon from the dissolving Grimm, and walked over to where Jett was on the ground. She offered her hand, which Jett took wearily. She helped him to his feet with a groan.

"Ho ho! A valiant effort, children!" Professor Port exclaimed. "Well, that's all we have time for today! Remember to cover the assigned readings. You are dismissed." The professor strode back up to his desk in the front. Jett slipped his guns to their holsters, and walked back over to his team. Jett turned his head, and saw Weiss storm out of the room, while Ruby had a worried looked on her face. "That was awesome, Jett!" Matilda exclaimed, punching the air. Eccon strode over, and gave Jett a thumbs-up. "New power?" he asked. "Nah." Jett coughed. "One I had for a while, but hurts to use." He grimmaced, clutching his side. "I call it...Mirror Blade." Matilda rushed over to his side, and supported him with her body. "Why does it hurt to use that one? And why does it deplete your Aura completely, Jett?" Matilda asked, worried. "Because...of an injury I recieved when I learned to do that." he explained, gritting his teeth. Suddenly, hundreds of cuts appeared over his body. "When I use that power, I'm using what happened from an infinte loop I created a while ago. Unfortunately, I caught myself in the attack when I did it. So, whenever I use that power, I injure myself, as well." Jett groaned, but leaned against one of the tables. "You students shouldn't dally! Next class starts soon!" Professor Port exclaimed. "Yeah! Just give me a minute, Professor!" Jett exclaimed. He sighed, and focused. His Aura began to replenish itself, healing his cuts. Within seconds, all of his cuts were healed, and Jett was standing upright. "There, good as new." Jett stated. Matilda still gave him a worried look. "Let's just go. He's fine; I've had worse injuries than that." Miranda spoke up. "By the way, thanks for leaving me with that jerk, Jett." Jett gave a sheepish grin. "I really wanted to sit with Ruby..?" Jett gave a weak excuse. Miranda looked at him apprehensively, but quickly dismissed it. "Fine, let's go." Jett said, and JEMM headed out of the classroom and to the next.

 **...**

The rest of the day was boringly uneventful, right from one class to another. Even lunch was boring, suprisingly. Classes were over for the day, so Jett decided to take the bulkhead into Vale and just walk the streets. "Want some company?" Eccon asked as Jett prepared to leave. Jett clipped on his holsters, his weapons inside them. Jett grabbed his jacket from a hook on the wall, pulling it on. He looked over at the girls. They were both helping each other study on their beds. "Yeah, I'm sure." I just need some fresh air." Jett answered, looking back to Eccon. "Well...okay." Eccon said, looking dejected. "I'll be back by 10pm, most likely. If you need, hit me up on the Scroll. Bye!" Jett waved to the girls, and walked out the door, closing it behind him. Walking down the hall, Jett noticed that Team RWBY's door was open, and he heard voices. Jett hugged the wall, and eased in to listen. "Where you going, sis?" Yang asked. "To go get some more supplies from Vale." Ruby answered. "But it's the beginning of the week?" Yang asked, sounding confused. "Yeah...Look, I want to show Weiss that I can be a good leader, so I'm going into Vale to buy a couple books that could help me." Jett heard a *smush*, and could hear a muffled cry. "That is so mature! Oh, my baby sister is growing up!" Yang squealed. "...help..." Ruby gasped. Yang let go, letting Ruby get out a few breaths before recovering. Jett laughed, hidden by the doorframe. "Hey, who's out there?" Ruby asked apprehensively. Jett walked out from where he was hidden. "Hello, ladies." he said, smoothly. He bowed slightly. "Oh! Hey there, J-Man!" Yang greeted, a smile starting to form on her face. "You're heading into Vale, Ruby?" he asked. "Yup! Gotta leader me up, so Weiss can take me seriously!" Ruby explained energetically. "Well...I"m heading into Vale, too. So, maybe we could go...together?" Yang went wide-eyed. "Are you asking my baby sister out on a date?" she gasped. "What? No, no, no, no, no. I just figured that since we're going to the same place, we could go together." Jett explained, his face turning a light shade of crimson. Yang squealed. "You are!" Yang exclaimed, bearhugging Ruby again. "PLEASE STOP..." Ruby gasped, stuggling to get out. Yang dropped her, and brushed her off. "Well, you two have fun on your "not-date"!" She pushed the two of them into the hall, and closed the door behind them. "Did you even want to go with me..?" Jett asked looking down at Ruby. He saw that she was blushing bright red, her face starting to blend in with her hood. "Y-yeah.." she stuttered. She pulled her hood up. "Well, let's go then." Jett said. He offered her his hand, and she grabbed onto his sleeve. "Okay..." he muttered, as he led her down the hall.


	8. Chapter 8: The Not-Date

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 8: The "Not-Date"**

Jett and Ruby walked through the courtyard in silence, Ruby's hood covering her face. "So...what books were you thinking about getting? Jett asked, trying to break the silence. "T-the good kind.." Ruby muttered. "Are you still hung up on what Yang said?" "Mmhm." Jett scratched his head, laughing slightly. "You know, it doesn't have to be a date if you don't want it to? Yang was the one who said that, not us." Jett explained. Ruby cast off her hood, showing that she was still blushing. "Well, maybe I want it to be a d-d-date.." she said quietly. "What was that, Ruby? I didn't hear you." She blushed even harder, slowly turning the same shade as her hood. "I-I s-said that m-maybe I want i-it to be a d-date.." She repeated, further turning crimson. Jett took a step back, and looked at Ruby, suprised. "Really?" he asked. She silently nodded. Jett shrugged, and gave Ruby a wide smile. "Well, if that's what you want, then what you want it shall...be?" Jett said, looking confused. "What?" she asked, letting out a small chuckle. Jett shook his head. "I'm saying yes, let's make it a date. And, if you don't want to tell anyone about it, I'll keep it under wraps." he smiled, givng her a thumbs up. "Thank you, Jett.." she said, her cheeks returning to normal. "Let's head for the bulkhead." Jett said, grabbing her wrist, and leading her in the direction of the station.

 **...**

After a very talkative ride into Vale, the two teens finally arrived at the station in Vale. "So, where do you want to go, Ruby?" Jett asked, taking out his Scroll. 3:45pm. She turned on her heel, and gave Jett an unsure look. "Hmmmmmmm, not sure..." she muttered, looking around. "Say, weren't you going to get some books on leadership, or something?" Jett reminded her. "Oh yeah!" "Tukson's Book Trade?" he asked. "Yup!" "Lead the way, Miss Rose." Jett said, moving into a small bow. Ruby blushed slightly, then began to lead him the shop. "So, where are you from?" he asked. "On an island called: Patch. It's a little ways off the coast of Vale." she answered, looking at him. "Where you from?" "Here." he answered, simply. "No, but where?" "In that alley, right there." he said jokingly, pointing to the nearest alleyway. Ruby looked at him suprised. "You were raised on the streets?" Jett looked away, and at the nearest shop. _I suppose Ruby is trustworthy enough. I guess I could tell her._ Jett thought, looking extremely interested in some Dust jewlery in the window in front of him. Jett sighed, and then told Ruby the story. ... "...and that's the gist of it." Jett finished explaining. "Oh wow. It must have been hard to survive this long." "...yeah." "And you said that you found your sister during the entrance exam, and she told you the real story?" Ruby asked, looking concerned. "...yeah." Jett answered, quietly. She hugged him suddenly, and held tight. This shocked Jett at first, but he put his arms around her and hugged back. She let go, and blushed, suddenly finding the ground interesting. "Why'd you hug me?" he asked. "It just seemed like you were sad. So, I wanted to make you happy." she explained, smiling slightly. Now it was his turn to blush. "A-anyways, is this the store here?" he asked, trying to change the subject before she sees him get any redder. She looked around, and spotted the store. "There!" she exclaimed, pointing to a brown building with a gold facade. In golden marquee, in one of the glass windows, it said: "Tukson's Book Trade: Home to Every Book Under the Sun!" Ruby grabbed Jett by the hand, and led him into the shop.

The shop door opened with a ring from a hidden bell. Jett was met with the musty smell of books, which hit him with a memory like a ton of bricks. _Autumn leaves falling from a tall oak. Curled up against a woman, listening to her melodic voice read the Tale of the Two Brothers from a hardback. The musty smell of the ancient book filled the air. Looking up, he saw a blank face with long-flowing silver hair, with pink streaks . The woman tilted her head slightly, and he could feel her smile radiating through the haze. Mom...?_ _"Jett...I love you, sweetie."_ "Jett! "Jett, snap out of it!" Jett snapped back into reality, and saw Ruby in front of him shaking his shoulders. He had apparently collapsed on the floor, and the owner had his Scroll in his hand, ready to call for help. "Yeah...I'm fine. Just a memory..." he answered quietly. Jett got back to his feet, and dusted himself off. He waved down the owner. "I'm fine. No need to call anyone." The owner put his Scroll back into his pocket, shrugged, and headed into the back again. Ruby sighed. "Jeeze, Jett. And here I thought I was going to have to drag you out, and keep shopping without you." she giggled. "Yeah, thanks alot." he said sarcastically. "Let's see if some of those books you wanted were here, Ruby."

 **...**

The two searched through the shelves of the Non-Fiction section, looking for any hint of a good leadership book. After several minutes, they both gave up, and went into the fiction section and started looking through the shelves. "Ooh, this one is about dragons! I'd love to fight one, one day." Ruby excited squealed. "Ruby, dragons aren't real. You know that." Jett laughed. "At least let me dream, you meanie.." she whimpered. He pulled out a thick, leatherback book that had collected dust in the back of the shelf. He flipped it on it's back, and blew the dust off it. The title was now visible: Tale of the Two Brothers. Jett winced, expecting another flashback to come up, but it never did. Ruby noticed that he grabbed a book, and came over to look at it. "Ooooh, I love that book!" she exclaimed, smiling wide. "Well, why don't I read it to you then?" Jett offered. She smiled, and nodded. The two of them found a nook in the front of the shop with a wicker chair, large enough for the both of them to sit together. "Get comfortable." he recommended. They both sat down, and Ruby nestled into the confines of his side, curling up slightly and wrapping an arm around him, the other resting on his hip. She blushed faintly. "I-is this fine?" she asked nervously. "Yeah, t-this is good." he stuttered, opening up the book with one hand, the other draped around Ruby's shoulder.

"Ahem." Jett cleared his thoat, and flipped to the first page. _**"Two brothers were formed from the Dust. The eldest, the God of Light, found joy in creating the forces of life. Whereas, the younger brother, the God of Darkness, spent his time creating forces of destruction. The two brothers often quarreled, and had different ideas on how the world should be. The eldest would spend the day creating water, plants, and wildlife. At night, his brother would wake up to find all that the elder had made, and become disgusted. To counteract his brother's creations, the God of Darkness brought fire, drought, and famine-all that he could do to rid Remnant of life. Life always returned, in one way or another."**_ Jett read. He paused for a moment, scratching his nose with his arm that he had around Ruby. He put his arm back around her, and continued on. _ **"One night, the younger brother went and made something-something that shared his innate desire to destroy anything, and everything: The Creatures of Grimm. The God of Light had finally had enough. Knowing that the feud couldn't last forever, he proposed that they make one final creation, togther. Something that they could both be proud of: their masterpiece. The younger brother agreed. This last great creation would be given the power to create, and destroy. it would be given the gift of knowledge, so that it could learn about itself, and the world around it. But most importatly, it would be given the power to choose. To have free will. To take everything it had learned, and to choose which path it would follow: The path of Light, or the path of Darkness. And that, is how humanity came to be."**_

Jett finished, closing the book with his right hand. He felt rhythmic breathing coming from Ruby. Looking down, he found Ruby asleep, her head resting against his chest. Jett smiled. He looked around. the shop was mainly deserted, at this point. The owner sat with his feet up behind the counter, engrossed in his own book that he was reading. Jett looked out the window. The sun started it's descent from the sky, ducking down behind the tops of the buildings. The hustle of the city died down, fewer people walked Main Street than when him and Ruby came in. A tall, blonde figure moved across the window, blocking his view. Jett refocused, and saw Yang with his back to the window, talking to someone else. He looked out a bit more, and saw her talking to a tall, dark beauty with golden eyes: Blake. Jett sunk further into the seat, and out of view. Through the wicker, he saw Yang straighten up a bit, then switch places with Blake. She could now look in the window while she was talking to her partner. Jett peeked out a little, and caught Yang's gaze. She gave him a small smile, and winked, as if to say: "I got this." Jett sighed, and sank back into his chair. Yang motioned for Blake to follow her, and they left the store front.

"Ruby, wake up." Jett whispered, gently nudging her shoulder. Her eyes fluttered open, before closing again. "C'mon, you need to wake up." he insisted. She groaned. "Five more minutes...This pillow is so comfy..." she muttered, squeezing Jett tighter. "Ruby, your pillow is me." Jett stated. "Shhh...be quiet, comfy pillow..." she whispered. He sighed. "I guess I'll take a nap, too..." he trailed off, letting his head hang. Within minutes, he was dozing off alongside a sleeping Ruby.

 **...**

"You two need to get up, we're closing." a voice said through the haze of Jett's sleep. "Hey!" "Wake the hell up!" A light slap struck him in the face, snapping him awake. He looked around, and saw the owner standing over him with a scowl on his face. Jett pulled out his Scroll, and looked at the time. 8:36pm. "Shoot. I'm sorry, we'll leave right away." Jett apoligized. He shook Ruby by the shoulder. "Ruby, you need to wake up. Ruby, wake up: The shop is about to close." Her eyes opened, and her silver eyes looked up at Jett, then at the shopkeeper standing over them. "Take it someplace else, lovebirds." the owner said, walking away from them. Ruby took another look at Jett, and saw that she was resting on his chest. Jumping up, she covered her face with her hands, her face turning the same colour as her hood. "What's wrong?" he asked concerned. Ruby just shook her head, and ran out of the shop. "Wait!" he shouted. _Great. Now I have to chase after her._ he thought. He ran out the door, and saw her ducking into an alleyway across the street. "Ruby!" Jett shoutted, as she disappeared in a flurry of rose petals.

"Damn it, where did she go?" Jett muttered to himself. Down Main Street he ran, checking every alley he passed for any sign of a red hood. For the next 15 minutes, he ran and checked, looking for Ruby. "She might have just went back to Beacon..." Jett sighed. "Damn, what did I do wrong...?" Hanging his head, he turned around and headed for the station. _*Swoosh* What the-_ A figure suddenly appeared behind him in a plume of rose petals. She had her red hood pulled over her face, staring at the ground: Ruby. "I-I'm sorry for running out!" she exclaimed, casting her hood off her head, looking Jett in the face. Jett sighed. "Let's go over here and talk." he said, pointing to a fountain in the middle of an abandoned courtyard. She reluctantly nodded, and walked over with him.

The two of them sat down on a bench in front of the fixture. Jett looked her over, and he could tell that she was uncomfortable, fidgeting in her seat. "I really am sorry!" Ruby apologized. "I didn't mean to run, but Tukson put us on the spot, and...and..." she trailed off, blushing again. "Ruby, is this the first date you've been on?" Jett asked directly. She gave a surprised look, and blushed even harder. "Y-y-yes..." She said quietly. "If you were uncomfortable with this then-" Jett started. "But I wanted to!" "Huh?" Ruby looked down at her hands. "I...wanted to come with you, to see if I would like it.." She said. Ruby looked up at him, silver eyes gleaming in the artificial lights around them. "Jett, you're charming, and you treat me nice." "Apparently, I'm a comfy pillow, too." he chuckled. She laughed slightly, sighing. "Yeah, there's that.." she said. "I want to do something like this again." "With me?" Jett asked, cracking a grin. Ruby acted like she was thinking. "I was thinking of maybe taking Weiss, or Jaune..." she said playfully. "You tease." Jett said, laughing. Ruby smiled. "Yes, with you." she answered. The two got up from the bench. "Let's head back." Jett recommended. Ruby smiled nodded, blushing slightly. He offered his hand, and she took it. Ruby and Jett made their way back to the station, hand in hand.


	9. Chapter 9: The Stranger

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 9: The Stranger**

The last bulkhead docked at the station when the teens arrived back at Beacon. The crew hopped off the ship, and started to shut everything down, preparing to pack up for the night. The outer courtyard was quiet, with only the nightingales to keep them company, whose infrequent chorus made the courtyard seems less empty. "I had...a nice time today, Jett." Ruby stated, smiling slightly. "Well, I'm glad you liked it." he answered, looking pleased with himself. "Don't get too full of yourself, lady-killer." Ruby teased. The two made their way through the center of the courtyard, laughing and joking.

Suddenly, a figure in a black cloak, with his hood covering his face, stood in the middle of the first wide open area leading up to the school. Jett spotted the figure first, and stopped dead. He felt uneasy, like he had a feeling of deja vu'. _This person seems very familiar._ Jett thought. _Why do I feel like I know him?_ He could feel waves of ill intent rippling off this mysterious figure. "Hey, why did you stop-" Ruby started, but stopped when she followed Jett's gaze until she saw the figure too. She took a step back, and put a hand behind her back to grab Crescent Rose, only to find that it wasn't there. She silently cursed, and dropped into a defensive stance. Lucky for Jett, he had remembered to grab Ebony & Ivory. He extracted them from their holsters slowly, transforming the revolvers into swords.

The figure raised an arm from beneath it's cloak, the tip of a glowing ruby-red sword shone from underneath, and it was pointed at Jett. Two burning coals for eyes bore into Jett from across the distance, it's rage flaring bright orange in the pupils. The mysterious stranger made the first move, crossing the distance between them in seconds-almost faster than what Jett could see, time dialation or not. He thrust his sword at Jett's head, which he deflected at the last second. "I...I'll go get help!" Ruby exclaimed, running for the entrance. The stranger's eyes darted in Ruby's direction, and started to turn to cut her off. "No you don't!" Jett shouted, using his own sword to stab at the man. He knocked the sword away, and turned to face, Ruby again. Jett scowled, and launched himself onto the back of the assailant, wrestling with him. "Go!" Jett shouted. Ruby nodded, and disappeared in a display fo rose petals.

The stranger reached up and grabbed Jett by the hair. With Aura-fueled strength, he threw Jett, launching him through a pillar across the courtyard. Jett's Aura cushioned the fall, but damned if he didn't feel it! "OWWWWW!" Jett exclaimed, holding his head as his Aura attempted to heal his cracked skull. The figure charged Jett again, this time faster than before. "Well, good time as any.." he muttered. Jett closed his eyes, and time slowed down, as per usual. He opened his eyes, and saw the assailant running at him at a normal pace. "What!?" he said shocked. "I dialated time by 1/300th of a second!" The stranger's eyes burned into him, and Jett could see the faint hint of a smile. "Rrrrrrr, quit mocking me!" Jett screamed, eyes flashing with electricity. He focused on where his blade lay forgotten on the ground, and teleported over to it in the blink of an eye. He grabbed the blade, and turned around to see the stranger confused, looking around. _Ah, I get it!_ Jett thought excitedly. _He must have a Semblance, similar to me! But he doesn't have my time displacement, or my Mirror Blade ability._ Jett: 1 Mysterious Stranger: 0.

Jett smiled, letting energy cloak his body in wreaths of lightning, and dropping the time dialation. "Hey, ugly!" Jett jeered, waving a hand at the man. The figure turned around, and narrowed it gaze. "Yeah, you! Come get some!" The figure shot forward, following the same pattern as before. Jett smirked, disappearing in a flash of light as the assailant swung his sword at where the teen was. Time slowed down for a moment, as Jett dashed past the stranger, slicing through his side cleanly. Jett turned to look, and saw a stream of blood spilling out from the wound he had just created. "If something is moving faster than your brain can comprehend, your Aura can't react and protect you." Jett explained, wiping the stranger's blood off of his blade. He could see the stranger's Aura already healing the wound the Jett had created, leaving the tear in his cloak and clothing.

The stranger let out an inhuman roar, releasing a shockwave that made his cloak and surrounding area blow in an updraft. Jett caught a glimpse of the figure under the cloak: a man in his mid 40's, left half of his body looked normal. Scraggly beard, slicked-back brown hair, bushy eyebrows, and burning red eyes. His right side looked as though it was covered in shadows. His right arm was unnaturally muscular, with white claws formed on the tips of his fingers, with an extra, smaller finger-claw tucked behind his pinkie. The right half of his face was covered with a white mask, with red markings on it. Jett took a step back, and gasped. Around it's neck hung a worn-out SawTooth necklace, with a ratty-looking leather strap holding it to the wearer. "You're...a Grimm!" Jett exclaimed, gripping Ebony & Ivory tighter. The creature roared again, and lunged at him. Jett put his blades in an X in front of him, and prepared for the blow.

"Incoming!" a voice exclaimed from above him. Jett looked up, and saw Yang airborne 20ft above him, her armored fist cocked back. "Dodge!" she shouted. He did a handspring backwards, and escaped the blast radius. _Is she going to bombard the area, or something?_ He thought. Yang let loose two explosive Dust rounds from her gauntlets, aimed at the creature. It blocked the rounds with a swipe of it's right arm. "Weiss!" Yang shouted. "Got it!" a voice from the side exclaimed. Jett looked to his left, and saw Weiss in her pajamas, her rapier in one hand, the other making glyphs for Yang to land on. _Why do both of them have pajamas on?_ Jett wondered. Yang landed on the first glyph, which launched her to the one above her. She hit the next glyph, and clung fast to it. The stranger below roared again, and shot fireballs from beneath the cloak at the blonde berzerker. "Ha! My dad aims better! Now, Weiss!" she taunted as the fireballs flew past her aimlessly. The glyph Yang was clinging to switched and turned black, launching Yang directly into the ground. She smashed both fists down on the creature in the cloak, causing an explosion which shook the school, and left an enormous crater in the pavement, with Yang left smoking slightly in the center of it.

The confused girl looked around. "What? Where did it go?" she shouted, looking slightly dizzy. The smoke begun to clear, and the figure appeared at the edge of the crater, limping and holding it's side. It looked at Jett, boring it's eyes into him. The creature finally spoke: "Remember me, Jett.." it simply said, still staring at Jett. Before he had time to ask it the question that had just popped in his mind, the creature grabbed a crystal of inscribed Fire Dust from inside it's cloak, and smashed it on the ground. The three teens covered their faces as a wave of heat rolled over them. Jett removed his arms from his face, and looked where the creature had been: a blackened mark was left behind where it had been standing, with rapid-looking footsteps leading away from where it was. Yang raced up to where the creature had been, and scanned the area. "We need to follow it!" she exclaimed, loading another set of rounds into Ember Celica. Jett shook his head in disbelief, still shaken by the creatures words. A million questions filled his mind, all crying out for an answer at once. Where did he know this man from? How did he know him? Why was he targetting him particular? All these questions, but no percievable answers to be found.

"Is it over already?" a voice from behind whinned. Jett turned to see Ruby approaching, Crescent Rose in hand, Professor Glynda and Headmaster Ozpin in tow. "Wait. I thought you sent Yang and Weiss to help me, Ruby?" Jett asked, confused. She shook her head, and looked at Yang and Weiss for answers. "We saw the fight from our dorm window." Weiss explained. "Luckily, Yang was already looking out the window with her binoculars, trying to catch some of the boys after their showers." She finished with a disapproving look at Yang, who chuckled, nervously scratching her head. "You change into your pajamas early, too?" Jett joked. Weiss crossed her arms. "I was studying.." she muttered. "I wasn't!" Yang added. "We know, you boob!" Glynda strode over to the edge of the crater, and looked at the courtyard with scowl. "Why can't we go one year without someone breaking something?" she said with a sigh. Ozpin adjusted his glasses, and looked at Jett "What happened? And why were we awakened at this hour?" he asked, annoyed. _What time is it?_ Jett thought, taking out his Scroll to look at the time. 10:46pm. He put away the device, and told Professor Ozpin what happened, as the group of them walked to Ozpin's tower.

 **...**

"So, an unknown assailant, which you say was a Grimm hybrid, attacked you with a similar Semblance as yours? And Miss Xiao-Long and Miss Schnee intervenned? After which, the creature actually spoke to you?" Ozpin repeated, taking a sip of his coffee. "Yes, sir." Jett answered. Ozpin sighed, and put down the mug. "As ridiculous as this sounds, it certainly can happen." Ozpin stated. "So you believe him?" Yang asked incredulously. Jett turned around and looked at Yang. "Oh, ye' of so little faith?" he teased. He turned back around. "There's still something that I'm wondering." Ozpin picked back up his coffee, and took a sip. "Oh? And what would that be?" he asked. "He, the creature, told me to 'Remember Him'."And?" "Well, that would mean that I must have know him at some point..." Jett trailed off. His fists clenched, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. The image of the assailant's necklace flashed through his mind. "Not again..." he mumbled, collapsing. A harsh blanket of white surrounded him as he slipped conciousness.

 _A cliff stood before him, with the village of Patch in the distance, striking an outline against the horizon. A young Jett stood at the edge, looking down at the waves splashing against the cliff face below. He looked up and saw a middle-aged man with slicked back brown hair and a scruffy beard towering next to him, looking off into the distance. The sea air gently carressed his hair, exposing a concealed SawTooth necklace under the man's shirt to the open air for a second, before disappearing again. "Daddy? Why we here?" Jett asked. The man laughed. "Just here to take in the view before the big day tomorrow, Jett." the man said kindly. He looked down at Jett, and gave him a big smile. "Really? What we doing tomorrow?" Jett asked excitedly. The man just smiled, and ruffled Jett's hair with his hand. A twig snapped behind them, and they both turned towards the noise. A tall man with messy black hair, in a green trenchcoat stood before them "It's time, Jett." he said, simply. The man standing next to Jett nodded solemly, and turned back to Jett with a kind smile. "Well, I've got to go, kiddo." he explained. The man walked past the other man in the trenchcoat, and looked over hs shoulder at Jett. "Remember Jett: 11-31-22-07-23." he said cryptically, turning away. Jett suddenly felt nausous and dizzy. He fell on to the ground, slipping between conciousness._


	10. Chapter 10: Recovery

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 10: Recovery**

"Ugh, my head.." Jett groaned. His eyes slowly opened, and he saw Eccon sitting in a chair next to him, dozing off. Jett looked around, and saw that he was back on his bed in Team JEMM's dorm. "Well, look who decided to wake up." a voice said to the right. Jett craned his neck and saw Miranda sitting on her bed, watching over Jett. "You been watching me the whole time, Princess?" he asked, laughing slightly. "You should stop; the whole school will be talking. Miranda the Stalker." He let out a hearty laugh, before an intense pain wracked him from the inside, causing him to grip his side tightly. "Ugh, why do I hurt so much?" he whinned. "Probably because of that beating you got from that guy the other day, Hero." Miranda answered, getting up. "And stop calling me Princess." "Okay, Princess." Jett retorted, with a wink. She rolled her eyes, and smiled slightly. Miranda walked over to Eccon, and slapped his shoulder, waking him up. "Oww! What was that for?" he asked, shooting her a dirty look. "You can stop "keeping watch", Bambi: he's awake." she answered, crossing her arms. Eccon looked up, and saw Jett staring back at him with a confused look.

"Jett! You're awake!" he exclaimed, jumping up to hug an injured Jett. "Stop! You'll crack my healing ribs.." Jett grimmaced. "Oh! Sorry, forgot." Eccon said sheepishly, letting Jett go. He scratched his head. "So, how long have I been out?" Jett asked, looking at the two of them. "2 hours? 3?" "4 days, actually." Miranda answered. "WHAT? HOW? WHY?" She pointed at his head. "You took more of a beating up there than you thought. Surprised you aren't dead, actually." Miranda remarked. Eccon took a seat again. "So, what happened?" he asked. "You don't know already?" Eccon shook his head. "Ozpin didn't tell you anything?" Jett asked. "He didn't tell us anything, mate." Jett sighed. "Well, it started when Ruby and I got back to Beacon..." "...And that's what happened." Jett explained. Miranda put a finger each one of her temples. "Just thinking about this is giving me a headache." "So, you fought against someone who had the same Semblance as you, and figured out through a repressed memory that you might be related to him?" Eccon repeated. "Did I miss something?" Jett groaned, sitting himself upright. "Yeah, probably. Hell if I know what it is, though." The door to the dorm opened, and revealed a disheveled Matilda holding a stack of homework and a peppy Ruby with a plate of cookies and milk.

"Jett! You're awake, brother!" Matilda exclaimed, flinging her arms around Jett and hugging him tight. *Crack* One of Jett's ribs popped beneath his shirt, and he sucked in air through his teeth sharply. She let go abruptly. "Dammit, Matilda..." he mumbled. "I'm sorry!" she quickly apologized. "It's a good thing Nurse Ruby is here! I'll fix you right up!" Ruby exclaimed, trying to look heroic. "I really don't think a plate of cookies and milk will help me, Ruby.." he said, holding his side. "These are for later. Besides, your rib just popped out of place. My dad taught me a bunch of first aid when I was younger!" Ruby explained. "Let me see, please." Jett reluctantly lifted up his shirt for her to look for the dislocated rib. She stopped slightly, and flushed red. "Problem?" Eccon asked, raising an eyebrow. Ruby shook her head, and pulled her hood down. She spotted the popped rib sticking slightly out of his side. Using her hands, she pressed on one side of the rib intensely, causing Jett to grit his teeth in pain. *Pop* The rib went smoothly into the break along the frame.

Ruby moved her hands to other side, and the center of his chest to pop the other side in. She made the mistake of looking up, and caught Jett's gaze. "Uhh..." she stuttered. Jett heard a sigh to the side. "Come on, and get it over with, lovebirds." Miranda said, exasperated. The two flushed red. Ruby dipped her head, and focused on the rib. She pushed it back into place abruptly, making Jett cry out in pain. He gingerly touched the offending rib, feeling his Aura filling in the cracks that separated the bones from each other. "Your rib probably couldn't heal while you were unconcious because it wasn't set right." Ruby explained, pulling his shirt back down. She lowered her hood, and sat on the bed next to Jett, placing her hand over top of his.

"So, this is all the homework that you missed from the rest of the week." Matilda spoke up, handing Jett a folder full of papers. He reluctantly grabbed it. He opened it, and flipped through several pages. "This isn't really that much for homework?" he pointed out. Matilda smiled. "I was able to talk the professors into letting you off a bit easy." she explained. "Goodwitch wouldn't budge, though. She wants you to do some Grimm hunting tomorrow while she repairs the courtyard that, *Ahem*, you and Yang destroyed." Jett gulped. "By myself?" Matilda shook her head. "I volunteered our team to do it.." she said, adding the last part in a whisper when she caught Miranda's reaction to the news. "What!? Why us!?" Miranda yelled, anger flashing in her eyes. "Why are we being punished!?" Jett sighed, and looked at Matilda. "She's right: it was just me and Yang. We should be the ones to do it." Jett stated. Matilda shook her head. "Already done." she said, putting her hands in the air in a defeated gesture.

Jett squeezed Ruby's hand, and gingerly got to his feet. He wobbled a bit, but he could walk. "Would you guys mind giving me and Matilda the room?" He asked the group. Miranda, still fuming from Matilda's earlier statement, was the first to leave the room. Eccon left after, trying to calm an angry Miranda. Ruby patted his hand, and got up to leave, closing the door behind her. Jett braced his fists against his hips. "What's this about, Jett?" Matilda asked, innocently. He looked her in the eye. "Since it's too late to change it, I'll live with the decision that was made with Goodwitch." Jett started. "However, I will not accept that you went behind my back, and made a decision that involved the team as a whole, without talking to me first."

"You weren't awake, though.." Matilda muttered. "That doesn't matter, Matilda. I'm the leader of team JEMM. Things that involve all of us like this, you have to pass by me first. No excuses." he said, coldly. "I can't have someone that undermines me, especially in a combat situation." Matilda looked like she was close to tears. "I just wanted us all to train together as a team..." she whispered, a single tear slipping off her nose. Jett hobbled closer to Matilda, and hugged her, catching the girl by surprise. "And that's fine. But don't do something like this again, okay?" "Okay..." she sniffed, wiping the tears that started collecting in her eyes. He let go, and hobbled back over to the bed "I'll...I'll let you get some sleep, Jett." Matilda said, quietly. She headed for the door, stopping as she opened it. She looked back, but said nothing and walked out the door.


	11. Chapter 11: Team Building

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 11: Team Building**

After tossing and turning all night, Jett woke from his restless night of sleep. Pushing himself into a sitting position, he stretched and yawned wearily. _Ugh. Five more minutes, please._ he thought. He fumbled for his Scroll on the nightstand next to him. Opening it, Jett opened his eyes a crack to check the time. 10:34am. _Shoot._ He cast his sheets off, and flew out of bed, racing for the bathroom. His Scroll rang in his hand. Jett opened it, and answered it. "Yeah, I know I'm late." he snapped, ending the call curtly. He stripped out of his clothes quickly, and hopped in the shower.

 **...**

15 minutes later, Jett was running down the hallway, heading for the courtyard, and for the cliff where initiation was held. Twisting and winding, Jett made his way out into the central courtyard. The sun blinded him as he threw open the doors, and ran into the first person in front of him. "Owww. that hurt..." an feminine voice with an interesting lilt said. Jett looked up, and saw that he knocked a brown-haired faunus girl with rabbit ears. "Oh! I'm sorry, Ms...?" he said, offering her a hand. She looked at his hand for a minute, and grabbed it. "Velvet. Velvet Scarlatina.." she answered warily. "Jett Oswind. Pleasure to make your aquaintance." Jett responded cordially. She blushed slightly. She was tall, almost as tall as he was. Her silky brown hair reached down the middle of her back. Her brown hair framing a pretty face, with alabaster skin, and big brown eyes, looking back him. Two, brown bunny ears poked out the top of her head. One twitched, as she looked like she was listening. "Well, I would love to stay and chat, but my team is waiting for me." he said. "See ya!" He ran past the faunus girl, and in the direction of the forest, leaving her with a slightly confused look.

 **...**

Jett doubled over, as he tried to catch his breath. He had ran non-stop to get to his destination on time. Well, on time is subjective, at this point. "Made it.." he breathed heavily. "Jett, come on!" a voice exclaimed from ahead. Jett looked up, and saw Eccon waving him over. Miranda stood off to the side, with her arms crossed tightly across her chest, giving the canopy of trees below them a nasty scowl. Matilda stood at the edge of the cliff, looking over the edge in silence. Jett walked up to the group, and greeted Eccon, and Miranda. "How's it going, Sleepy?" Eccon teased. Jett yawned, stretching his arms above his head. "Had a pretty good nap. Ran into another Faunus on the way here, too." Jett answered, cracking his knuckles. "A brown-haired Rabbit faunus, right?" Eccon asked with a smile. "Yeah. How'd you know?" "She took our pictures with her camera. Miranda nearly broke the thing." She grunted off to the side. "I don't like my picture being taken.." she said quietly.

"So, where's Goodwitch?" Jett asked, looking around. "Wasn't she supposed to meet us here?" Eccon shook his head. "She's busy repairing the courtyard, remember?" "Speaking of which," Miranda spoke up. "why are we even here? Jett and Yang destroyed the courtyard, not us." "That is precisely why she is here right now!" a quick-sounding voice said from behind. Jett turned around, and was met by a bored Yang, and a tall, wild-looking teacher. "Yeah, thanks Professor Oobleck..." she grumbled. "Doctor..." he snapped. "But I will be your liason for today's adventure into the Emerald Forrest!" _Oh. My. Gods! Is he just stuck on fast forward?_ Jett thought, already annoyed with the way this teacher speaks. The man that Yang called 'Professor Oobleck' is sure a strange character. Moss green hair, swept back as if he was caught in a wind tunnel, bespecacled face, dress shirt tucked in on only one side with a bright yellow tie on, and a thermos he was drinking from that Jett could only guess was making him act this way.

"So, are you ready for your adventure children?" Oobleck asked excitedly. "According to my calculations, we are already 2 minutes behind schedule!" He zipped down the cliff face, and disappeared into the trees. Jett turned back to Yang, and gave her an apologetic smile. "Sorry you got roped into this, Yang." Jett apologised. She waved a hand at him. "Nah, it's fine. I DID put a crater in the middle of the courtyard. It's expected." she shrugged. "Just don't get in our way, Property Damage." Miranda said cooly, jumping off the cliff after the Professor. Yang scowled, and jumped after Miranda. Matilda looked back at Jett, givng him a worried look, and followed suit. Jett looked at Eccon, who gave a him a big smile. They bumped fists, and jumped over the cliff and into the forest below.

Jett touched down on the forest floor, and immediately pulled out Ebony & Ivory, expecting an attack of Grimm. None came. Jett lowered his guard, and found his teammates in the clearing ahead of him. He jogged up to join them. "So what are we looking for, Professor?" Jett asked Oobleck. "Doctor.." "Whatever. What are we trying to find?" Oobleck pushed his glasses higher up his nose, and took a sip of his thermos. "You are not always going to have the luxury of knowing what you face, children!" he explained, pointing a finger in the air. "However, the particular Grimm that you will be hunting already knows you're here! This beast is particularly ferocious, and not native to this region! Be on your guard." He took another sip from his thermos, and zipped past them up the cliff. Jett sighed. "Seriously, did someone put Dust in his drink, or something?" he asked exasperated. The rest of group just laughed. A strange roar sounded off in the distance. Jett's ears pricked up, and listened to what sounded like a fight between two beasts in the distance. He nodded, and turned back to his team. "Alright, here's how it's going down..." he started.

"Yang, you're going to be our auxilary. Whenever someone is in trouble, you get them out of it. Got it?" Jett explained, looking at the blonde berzerker. She smiled, and brought her fists together. "Matilda, you're with me. Eccon, you're with Miranda. Act as support for any Grimm trying to get the drop on her." Jett instructed. Eccon nodded pulling out his polearm. "Miranda, I want you to focus on all of the big creatures. Anything that might be a big risk, eliminate it." Miranda smirked, nodding. She adjusted her spikes on her gauntlets, making sure they were locked in place. Jett turned to his sister. "Matilda, I want you to follow my lead. We'll be finding a way through the Grimm, got it?" She gulped, but nodded hesitantly. "Alright, let's get this done. Miranda and Eccon, you grab right. Matilda, you and I will grab left. Yang, you go down the middle." Jett straightened up as another roar rent the sky. "Break!"

The team split into a team of three, and went in separate directions. Trying to sneak around the clearing into front of them. Jett moved aside the brush blocking his view, and that's when he saw it: a Beringel. A massive ape-like Grimm, with enormous muscles, and walks around on all fours. The Beringel was surrounded by a horde of Beowolves and Ursi, protecting the large Grimm from any interference. The Beringel looked like it was fighting with another, smaller Grimm that he couldn't see. Jett looked over to the other side of the clearing, and saw Miranda and Eccon getting into position to the right of the Beringel, just beyond the treeline. Jett looked over to the front of the clearing, and caught a glimpse of Yang hiding in a bush, looking uncomfortable while doing so. "Ready..." Jett said, while raising a hand to his mouth. "GO!" He whistled, and it cut across all the Grimm in front of them. His team jumped out from hiding, and rushed the enemy.

Right out of the gate, a young Beowolf jumped at Jett, only to get slashed down by one of his sister's swords. Matilda grabbed a purple Dust crystal from a pouch hidden on her waist, and broke it in half, forcing the ends into her swords. The blades lit up with purple energy, and Jett could hear the power singing inside the metal, begging to be let free. They got their wish: Matilda cleaved a path through the Beowolves throwing themselves at her. Jett transform Ivory into it's gun form, and let loose several rounds at trio Beowolves harassing his sister, garnering their attention. "Bring it, Fido." Jett growled, transforming the gun back. A Beowolf launched itself at Jett's side, trying to rake it's claws against his flesh. He delfected the blow, and decapitated the offending Grimm. Jett breathed heavy, as he looked over to see how the rest of the team was handling the fight.

Miranda continued to plow through Grimm after Grimm, turning every creature that came into her path, dust. Eccon watched her back, repelling Grimm that tried to attack her from behind. An Ursa threw Eccon to the side, and knocked his polearm out of his hands. "Mirand-" Jett started to shout, but noticed that Eccon's eyes were glowing yellow. His Aura flared around him, and he cast an open hand at the ground. Rapidly, vines formed, and reached up, stretching towards his palm. From the vines, he formed a spear out of ridgid tree bark. Eccon's face broke out in rage, and he hurled the spear at the Ursa that knocked him around. The spear stuck into the Grimm for a minute before breaking. Eccon continued to create and hurl spears at the creature. The Ursa, now having several wooden spears stick out it, roared at Eccon, unable to move. He gave the Grimm an evil look, and cast his hand at the offending Ursa. Vines and branches erupted from the ground, and wrapped around each one of the Grimm's limbs. "Suffer.." he whispered, closing his fist. The vines pulled the creature's limbs taut, and ripped them off in an incredible display of force. Eccon strode over to where his weapon lay on the ground, and picked it up, walking back over to the barely alive Ursa. He sliced off the Grimm's head in a quick motion, letting it dissolve into black powder.

Yang finally jumped into the fray, smashing an Ursa in the face with her right gauntlet. "Miranda!" she shouted, launching a particularly big Ursa at her. Miranda's face contorted into anger. She unlatched her claws letting them hang off the side. Red mist rolled off her wrists in waves, and she let loose a volley of lasers blasts, disintigrating the creature. Miranda threw her fists inwards, moving the spikes back into place as she latched them tight. Dashing forwards, she moved to Yang's side. "Ready to do this?" Yang asked excitedly. "Hmph." Miranda grunted while cracking a smile. The two berzerkers screamed, and jumped into the fray once more.

All out pandemonium shone in this little clearing. Jett and Matilda fighting off Beowolves and Ursa, Miranda and Yang laughing while mowing down Grimm, Eccon using a mixture of his polearm and wooden constructs he creates to fight off his horde of Grimm. _Now, it's time to go after the big guy!_ Jett thought, turning his attention to the Beringel that had been rampaging until now. "Everyone! Converge!" Jett shouted, pointing at the Beringel. The rest of them, who had been fight their own battles, turned and ran towards the large Grimm with Jett, ignoring what they were doing. "Yang, Miranda, center! Eccon, Matilda, with me!" Jett ordered. Miranda nodded, and ran up the center with Yang, with the rest following Jett's lead. "Strike!" he exclaimed.

Using one of her swords, Matilda made the first move, slashing the Beringel in the leg as she sprinted past. "Night and Day!" Jett exclaimed, looking at Matilda. She nodded, understanding. Jett and Matilda sprinted at each other at full speed, passing underneath the Beringel, swords outstretched. At the last second, they jumped, and held an arm out to hook the other's, using their momentum to make a deadly spinning top with their bodies. Their swords sliced off the Beringel's feet, leaving stubs behind, bleeding black liquid onto the ground. The creature fell to it's side, and roared in pain. "Pain's Garden!" Jett shouted, looking at Miranda and Eccon. Eccon smiled, eyes flashing yellow.

Eccon sprinted forward towards the Beringel, polearm out to his right. Miranda unlatched her spikes, and loaded fire and ice Dust into her gauntlets. She dashed forward, closing the distance between her and the downed Beringel. Eccon's eyes light up, and he used his Semblance. Vines and roots erupted from the ground around them, and ensnaring the Grimm, covering it up to it's neck. The Beringel struggled against it's bonds, managing to get an arm free. Eccon tried with all his might to hold the creature, attempting to make more vines and roots come out of the ground.

Miranda threw her fists inwards, latching her spike back into place. She pressed a button in the palm of her glove, and her spikes on her gauntlets started to glow with white and red power. She cleared the distance between her and the creature in seconds, and began her assault on the Beringel's face, pummeling it into paste. The creature swung it's free arm at the bezerker. Miranda handsprung backwards, and dashied right back into melee range of the Beringel. In one motion, she used her spikes to cut through the foliage holding the creature in place, as well as making a deep cut in the Beringel's chest. The Grimm threw a right hook at Miranda while she was in range. Only having enough time to block, she put her gauntlets in front of her face, and took the blow, getting knocked backwards.

"Yang, Miranda! Finish this!" Jett exclaimed. Yang's eyes flashed red, and her hair glowed bright yellow. Using her gauntlets, she fired a round at the ground, propelling herself forward. Yang cocked an arm back, and struck the Beringel with an explosive shotgun round to the jaw, knocking the creature over. Yang backflipped, and dashed out of melee range before the creature could counter attack. Miranda walked up to Yang's side, and looked sideways at the blonde berzerker. Yang gave the gruff girl a competitve smile, which Miranda gave back. Activating both of their Semblances at once, a font of yellow and green energy erupted between them, and they dashed forward almost faster than anyone could see. The next second they were in front of the Beringel's face. Both cocked a fist back, a wild look on their faces, both glowing with their respective energies. "Yyyyyeaaaarraaaahh!" both exclaimed. Thrusting their fists forward in synch, the girls let out all their saved up power in a single punch, causing an explosion on the point of impact. The resulting explosion knocked everyone in the area away in a shockwave, giving off a blinding display of yellow and green light.

"Ugh, my aching..." Jett started, holding his head in his hand. He braced himself up with one arm, and looked at the area. It looked as though a bomb went off. The trees surrounding him were all blown back and charred. Jett looked back at the center of the explosion, and saw that the Beringel survived the attack! Miranda and Yang stood there, arms outstretched, panting heavily, Aura's completely drained. The Beringel roared, and started to regnerate it's lost feet. Within seconds, the Grimm was standing on it's two legs again. It roared, and thrust both of it's fists at the weakened girls. "Noooo!" Jett exclaimed, casting a hand out to them.

"Stop." A feminine voice said from behind. The voice had such a strong compulsion behind it, that Jett immediately followed it's command out of fear. A figure walked past him, and Matilda came into view, her swords put away. He caught a glimpse of her face as she passed, and her face was emotionless. A stony visage, with glowing steel eyes, and an emotionless gaze, which was locked on the Beringel. Jett looked up at the creature, and saw that the Grimm was in a similar state to him, as was everyone in the immediate area. Matilda's eyes focused on the Beringel, and glowed even brighter. Jett could feel the effect of whatever spell he was under getting weaker, but getting stronger on the Grimm. The next sentence Matilda spoke sent chills down Jett's spine: "Kill yourself." she ordered the Beringel. Jett watched as the creature's arms seemingly moved on their own accord, bringing it's hands up to it's throat. The Beringel gripped it's own throat, and started squeezing. "Harder." she ordered once again. It gripped harder, looking visibly distressed. "Harder." Tighter it's grip went. "Harder!" The Grimm squeezed down as hard as it could, and crushed it's neck, squeezing it's head off it shoulders, collapsing the rest of the body. Matilda closed her eyes, and hit the ground, knocked out.

"Matilda!" Jett exclaimed, rushing over to his sister's side. The Beringel dissolved into black dust in the background, and the remainder of the Grimm that they were fighting hightailed after they saw their Alpha fall by the girl. "Is she okay?" Miranda hobbled over, and started looking over her partner. "Yeah, I think she'll be fine. Just used up too much of her Aur-" Jett straightened up. "Wait, are you worried about Matilda?" Jett asked, raising an eyebrow. She gave him a dirty look. "Say anything, and I'll rip your tongue out." Yang, and Eccon walked up. "What happened?" Yang asked, holding her side in pain. Eccon gave Matilda a worried look, and looked to Jett for answers. Jett shook his head. "She just used too much Aura. She needs to rest." he answered. Yang bent down, and picked up the knocked-out Matilda, slinging her over her shoulder in a fireman's carry. "I got her." Yang stated. "You really should let me carry her, Yang." Jett said, worried. She shook her head. "Aura is already coming back, and healing my wounds. I'll be fine, J-Man." she said, giving Jett a wink. "Well, fine then. Let's get her back to Beacon, then." he said. The beaten and battered team turned to head for the cliffs. Jett looked back at the destroyed clearing behind him. They had fought a hard battle, but got out of it alive. _I wonder what the future has in store for this team.._ He thought, turning back around. _I hope we can do better in the future.._


	12. Chapter 12: The Taste of Defeat

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 12: The Taste of Defeat is Bittersweet**

Team JEMM, and Yang, took Matilda to their dorm to lie her down to rest. Miranda insisted on staying behind with her partner when Jett suggested that they let Goodwitch know what happened. "You sure, Princess?" Jett asked giving his sister a worried look. She nodded, and looked back at her partner on the bed next to her. Jett, as worried as he was, he needed to tell the Professor what had happened. Jett and Eccon left the dorm, with Yang in tow. Jett looked back, and was surprised when he saw the blonde behind him. "Why are you going with us, Yang?" Jett asked. "You should really get those ribs checked out." He could see that she was still holding her side. "Nah, I'm good. Don't worry about me..." she trailed off, closing her eyes. Yang colapsed, passing out in the hallway. Eccon rushed over, and caught her before she hit the floor. "We're taking you to your dorm. Now." Eccon said forcefully. Yang's eyes fluttered open briefly, and she cracked a small smile. "Aww, isn't that sweet.." she cooed. "I knew you wouldn't let a lady down.." She said the last part with a wink to Eccon, who blushed slightly. "I'll take her across the hall, Jett. You go to Goodwitch." Eccon said. Jett nodded, and headed down the hall.

Through the hallways, Jett walked, trying to avoid talking to too many people, who were curious about the explosion the Emerald Forest earlier. "Can't talk now. Sorry. Need to go. Sorry, sorry." he said as he pushed through the crowd that gathered in the main lobby. "Students, please let him through." a strict, feminine voice said from the other side of the crowd with a sigh. The crowd parted, and revealed a tired-looking Goodwitch holding a clipboard. She strode up to Jett, and forcefully led Jett down the hall and away from the crowd. "I've been waiting for your report since you came back, young man!" she snapped. She led them to her office at the end of the corridor. "I'm sorry, but one of our team was injured. Well, two, actually, but that just happened." The Professor stopped before opening the door, and looked back at Jett over her shoulder. "Who was injured? And why weren't they brought to the infirmary?" she asked. "We have one of those?" Jett asked incredulously. Goodwitch groaned, and opened her door, leading Jett inside. "Close the door, please." she asked. Jett complied, closing the door behind them. "So, what happened?" she asked.

"...So, you encountered a Beringel, Miranda and Yang injured it. But it took Miranda to finish it with her Semblance? You could have done without the grim details, though, Mr. Oswind." Goodwitch recounted. "Matilda passed out because of Aura overuse, and Yang just passed out minutes ago because of several broken ribs?" Jett nodded. "Well, that certainly was...eventful, to say the least." Jett chuckled, dropping the smile he started when he thought of Matilda and Yang. He felt a soft hand on his shoulder. He looked around and saw Goodwitch standing closer, with her hand on his shoulder.

"Things like this happen. At least you completed your mission, and escaped with your team alive." Goodwitch said kindly. "I knew your team would be able to accomplish this, that's why I chose your team to do this, instead of just giving you and Yang detention." Jett looked down. "But we shouldn't have gotten anyone hurt.." he replied quietly. Goodwitch looked Jett in the eye. "It happens to the best leaders. People will get hurt, or die, under your command. But you can't falter. You just need to set the best example you can." she explained, smiling slightly. Jett looked up after a minute, and returned the expression. "Thanks, Professor Goodwitch. That helped." She gave his shoulder a squeeze, and removed her hand. She walked back over to her desk, and sat down. The Professpr moved a hand towards the door dismissively. "You may go now." "Got it." he responded. Jett walked over to the door, and opened it. "Mr. Oswind?" Jett looked over his shoulder. "Yes, Ms. Goodwitch?" She gave him a seriously look. "If you ever let anyone know that I was nice to you, I'll make sure you don't see graduation. Permanently." He gulped, but slowly nodded.

Jett walked down the hallway, making his way to his team's dorm. He mulled over the words that Goodwitch had said to him. So distracted by his own thoughts, Jett bumped into someone in front of him. "Oh, I'm sorr-!" he started, looking up, and stopping when he saw the person he bumped. It was the football jock that stole his seat in Professor Port's class. He was about a foot taller than Jett, and bulkier to match. He wore a fancy silver platebody with gold marquee on the front of his chest. _I think Ruby said that his name was Cardin, right?_ Jett thought to himself.

"Sorry, Cardin." he apologized, trying to move out of the giant's way. Cardin moved to the side to block Jett's path. "Let me...Just, let me..." Jett sighed. This man was not going to let him through. Jett looked up at Cardin. "What do you want? What's your problem?" Jett asked, getting irritated. The student looked down at Jett, and gave him a sneer. "My problem? My problem is you!" Cardin jeered. "Me? What did I do to you?" Cardin pushed Jett forcefully to the ground. "Reason? I don't need a reason! I don't like you, so you should go away." he said evily. Jett shook his head. "I don't have time for this." he said dismissively. Cardin moved to the side, and blocked Jett's path again. "Hey! I say when you're finished talking to me!" he said angrily. Cardin reached for Jett's collar, intending to lift him into the air by it.

Jett sighed. He focused, and time slowed down around him. Cardin's hand still came at him, but at a much slower rate than before. Jett walked around Cardin, and kicked him in the back of the knees. He resumed time, then looked back. "What the-" Cardin said, surprised by Jett's sudden disappearance and reappearance behind him. "How did you...?" Jett smiled, then turned to walk out past the main lobby. He got about halfway when he heard a peculiar sound: The sound of a weapon transforming. He looked back in time to see Cardin's mace coming at his head. Jett had just enough time to put up his Aura to lessen the blow, but the force behind the blow sent Jett flying through the front doors of the school. "I'm getting real tired of fighting every day.." Jett sighed. He backflipped, and slid about 50 ft into the courtyard. Jett looked up, and saw Cardin running at him at full speed, face contorted in rage, mace held aloft. Jett's hands went to his holsters, but paused. _I don't need Ebony & Ivory to beat him._ Jett thought, smirking.

Cardin brought his mace down on the ground, creating a shockwave of fire heading towards Jett. Jett smirked. He flipped at the last second, avoiding the shockwave by inches. Jett smiled, and ran at the angry linebacker. "Rrrragh!" he shouted, bringing his mace down in an arc at Jett's head. Jett, once again, dodged at the last minute, somersaulting to the right. "Stand. Still. So. I. CAN. KILL. YOU!" Cardin bellowed. Jett thought for a moment, but then shook his head with a smile. Jett closed the distance between him and the linebacker. Cardin brought down his mace again. This time, Jett jumped between the gap in Cardin's arm and body. "Boop." Jett said simply. Using Aura-fueled strength, he flicked Cardin's head with his finger, sending the linebacker flying across the courtyard.

Cardin landed on the ground about 30ft away from Jett. "Will you just leave me alone, already?" Jett asked. Cardin grunted, and ran at Jett again. Jett sighed, but dropped into a defensive stance. Cardin lunged with his mace at Jett, who was prepared to jump back and and out of the way. Suddenly, a flash of silver appeared in front of him with a *ting*. He looked up, and saw a man with red eyes, and slicked-back, black hair with grey streaks facing him, his hand on his gripping something on his back. Jett looked around the stranger, and saw that the stranger had blocked Cardin's mace with a long, silver, inscribed buster sword. "That's enough, kid." the stranger addressed Cardin. Cardin looked up at the stranger in rage. "Don't you know who I am? Don't you know who my family is?" The stranger shook his head. "I don't really care, either." he answered. The stranger lowered his sword, retracting it in half and putting it on his back under his tattered red cape. "Go back into your dorm." the man ordered, pointing back to the building. Cardin still looked mad, but his retracted his mace as well, putting it away.

Jett started to follow Cardin back to their dorms, but was stopped by the stranger, who held out his hand and shook his hand. "Not you, kid." the stranger said gruffly. Jett stopped, and waited for Cardin to leave. After he walked out of earshot, Jett finally spoke up. "Why did you help me? I could have handled him?" he asked, crossing his arms. "Without your weapons? Bullshit." the stranger stated. He grabbed a silver flask on his hip, opened the top, and took a hearty swig. "In case you couldn't see, I flicked him across the courtyard with a finger." Jett retorted. The man put the stopper back on top of the flask, and put it away. "Hmmm, I think you could use some work." The man said, slurring his words. Jett raised an eyebrow. "And who's going to teach me? You?" he chuckled. The stranger frowned. "I guess my reputation has not proceeded me." he chuckled. The man went into a deep bow, almost falling over. "I am Qrow Branwen, Hunter Ex*hic*trodinare! Former member of the greatest team to come out of Beacon: Team *hic* STRQ." Jett gave the man a look. "So?" "So? What do you mean "so"? I was the best!" Jett shrugged, and turned away. He got about 5 feet before Qrow appeared in front of him.

"C'mon, let me pass." Jett sighed. Qrow placed a hand on the handle of his sword that was sticking out. "Only if you can beat me, kiddo." Qrow stated, smirking. "Really?" "Really." Jett sighed again, and reluctantly pulled out Ebony & Ivory from their holsters. Qrow followed suit, pulling out his own sword, extending it to it's full length. The two moved in a circle, facing each other, their weapons at their sides respectively. "If I win this, you'll get out of my way, and I can go?" Jett asked. "Yup. But if I win, you become my apprentice." Qrow retorted. "Fine." A single leaf started it's descent from a nearby tree. It traveled slowly to the ground in an arc. The second it landed on the ground, an explosion of movement went off behind it, blowing it away.

Jett swung first, letting Ebony make the first move against his attacker. Qrow easily blocked the blow with the flat side of his blade. Qrow pushed the advantage, closing in, slashing at Jett with speed to match his. He blocked the blow, making Ebony & Ivory into an X shape in front of him. Qrow smiled. He pushed the blades harder, causing them to hit Jett in his face with them. Jett recoiled, and jumped backwards, trying to recover his senses. Qrow pushed his advantage further, continuing the assault against as Jett tried to recover. _I just need a minute..._ Jett thought, trailing off from said thought. _Oh, duh!_ Jett mentally slapped himself. He activated his Semblance, slowing down time to a crawl. Jett opened his eyes, and saw Qrow coming at him in slow motion. He smiled, and swung Ivory at Qrow's left side in a quick motion. Jett suddenly felt queasy as his blade got nearer to his attacker's side. Two inches from Qrow's side, Jett moved the blades away, and resumed time by accident as he curled over to puke.

"Nice trick, kid." Qrow commented. He moved the blade next to Jett's face. "Give up?" Jett, the feeling of queasiness having passed, shook his head. Qrow shrugged, and swung at Jett's neck. Jett disappeared a second before Qrow's blade struck him. He reappeared behind him and swung at him. This time, the blade struck, it raked Qrow across the face when he turned to his head to look behind him. He recoiled, gripping his face, holding his blade in front of him in a defensive stance. Qrow took his hand away from his face, and looked at the patch of blood that streaked his palm. "How was that, old man?" Jett chuckled. Qrow straightened up, and glared at Jett. The cut Jett had made on his face was already fading, but he definitely pissed the drunk off.

"That was a cheap shot." Qrow commented. "So? You bashed me in the face with mine!" Qrow dropped the pissed off look for an entertained one. "You know, you're the first student I've faced that pissed me off. Good job." he smiled, pressing down the guard on his blade with his first two fingers. Metal gears whirred within a window in the crossguard. His sword stretched out, revealing the sections between the pieces. It bent upwards, and curved in an arc towards Qrow, the tip retracting into the main part of the blade. The handle of his blade turned sideways, and a 5ft pole extended out of it. By the end of the process, Qrow was holding a silver and red scythe in his hands. He smiled evily, and charged at Jett, head-on with a yell.

"What the-" Jett started, but was cut off when Qrow suddenly appeared before him, scythe out to his side, ready to lop off Jett's face. He recoiled, and backflipped out of range of his scythe. Qrow continued to advance. Jett smirked, and activated his Semblance, yellow lightning coming out of his eyes in flashes. Qrow appeared behind Jett once again. He swung his scythe at his attacker, and Jett disappeared. He reappeared behind Qrow again. "I ain't falling for that again, kid." Qrow remarked, turning fast. Jett flashed a smile, and disappeared again. He reappeared again above Qrow. "Still won't work!" Jett slowed down time, causing his Aura to flare brighter. _I've only got one chance to do this before I run out of Aura._ Jett thought. "Here goes!" he yelled, initiating his attack. Jett streaked around Qrow, resuming time. He dashed at the drunk, slowing down time. His eyes burned yellow with unrestrained power.

Moving in a circular pattern, Jett teleported around Qrow, turning his Semblance off and on as he appeared and disappeared, slashing Qrow everytime he came out of his timestream. Qrow, not knowing how to react to an enemy he could barely see, tried to defend himself against the dozens of attacks that Jett sent against him. "Last hit!" Jett screamed, moving his blades out to his side. He dashed past Qrow, preparing to land the final blow on the drunk. Something felt off to Jett. He tried to shake the feeling as he advanced on Qrow in his own timestream. Suddenly, Jett tripped, falling over a rock he had not seen before. He dropped out of his timestream, and came flying at Qrow. Qrow smirked, dropping his scythe to the ground. As Jett came flying at him, he cocked an arm back. As soon as Jett came within range, Qrow punched Jett in the stomach as hard as he could. The resulting punch knocked Jett out immediately from the pain, sending him into an abyss of black...


	13. Chapter 13: Complicated Relations

When Jett awoke, he was laying flat on his back, looking up at the sky. His head was swimming, and he felt nauseous. A tall, dark figure stood over Jett. He focused and saw Qrow standing there, taking a sip out of his flask. "You lost, kid." he said simply. Jett tried pushing himself up into a sitting position, until his head started spinning more, so he laid back down. "Why do I always get hurt at this school?" Jett whined. "Just part of being a Hunter." Qrow added. "Speaking of which, I believe you lost our bet." Qrow offered Jett a hand up, which he reluctantly accepted. Once he was back on his feet, Jett gave the drunk a sideways look. "You cheated, didn't you?" Jett asked, looking suspicious. Qrow shook his head. "Bullshit." Qrow shrugged. "Believe it, or not. Doesn't make a difference to me. You still lost." he explained. Jett grumbled, but he nodded his head.

"Fine. What exactly did you want to teach me?" Jett sighed. Qrow shook his head. "Not something that can be done in a single session. You're going to be seeing me ALOT more throughout the school year." he said cryptically. The drunk turned on his heel, picked his scythe off the ground, transforming it back as he walked. Qrow stopped suddenly, and looked back at Jett from over his shoulder. "Oh! And I know about you and Ruby." he stated. Jett gave the drunk a very confused look. "H-how do you kno-I mean, what are you talking about?" Jett stuttered, looking very embarrassed suddenly. Qrow smiled. "Don't worry, I approve." He started to walk away again. "If you tell my niece about this, or break her heart, I will end you." he finished with a wave back to Jett. _Niece?!_

 **...**

Jett opened the door to his door with his Scroll. He just wanted to lie down and rest for the rest of the night. "Jeeeeeetttt!" a voice exclaimed. ...and that's not going to happen, will it? Jett was met by an excited Ruby giving him a hug as soon as he opened the door. "Whoa, ease it down. I just walked in, Ruby." he said with a chuckle. "But I was soo excited when I heard that your team completed your mission for Ms. Goodwitch!" Jett walked further in, and saw the rest of Team RWBY sitting on their beds, conversing with the rest of team JEMM. Matilda was no longer unconscious. She was talking in depth with Weiss, both looking very interested about what they were talking about. Eccon was going over fighting stanzas with Yang in the corner, mimicking each other's moves. Miranda stood over the stove in the kitchen, talking to Blake about different recipes for fish.

"What's the occasion?" Jett asked Ruby next to him. Ruby smiled. "Well, what Ms. Goodwitch assigned you was an official Hunter mission. A Rank. And you're the only ones to do it so far, so we wanted to celebrate with a little party." "Well, at least we don't have classes tomorrow." Jett laughed, stopping short when he felt a sharp pain in his stomach. Ruby noticed his change in expression quickly. "Are you okay?" she asked worriedly. Jett waved her down. "Yeah, I'm good. Ran into Cardin before I came back." Ruby lowered her gaze. "Yeah, he can be quite a bully." she said wistfully. "Oh, I whooped his butt. I didn't get injured by him." Jett responded sharply. Ruby gave him a confused look. "Then, who did?" she asked. "Well it was-" Jett stopped as Qrow's words flashed in his mind. _"If you tell my niece about this, or break her heart, I will end you."_ "Jett?" Jett looked Ruby in her eyes. "It was one of Cardin's team, don't remember his name." Jett lied, giving a big smile. If the black-haired girl was aware of the lie or not, she didn't show it. She nodded, and hugged Jett's side tighter before letting go. "Well, let's enjoy ourselves then, Ruby!" Jett exclaimed, walking further into the room.

 **...**

"So, you're telling me that you cut off the Nevermore's head?" Miranda asked skeptically. "Yup!" Ruby answered, giving a chipper response. "All because of Crescent Rose!" *Ahem* Weiss cleared her throat, and crossed her arms across her chest, glaring at Ruby. She gave a sheepish grin. "And a little help from the rest of the team.." she said quietly. "'Little'?" Yang asked, laughing. "Fine! A lot of help from the rest of the team!" Ruby said, exasperated and pouting. Jett laughed. The two teams sat on the beds, and had started swapping stories of the things that had happened in their lives. "There was this one time," Yang started. "where I stopped a thief who stole from a shop keep in Vale." Oooooooh! I hadn't heard that one, sis!" Ruby said excitedly.

 **...**

"So, why do you love Tuna so much, Blake?" Matilda asked, cocking her head to the side. Blake suddenly flushed red, and tried looking off to the side. Weiss zeroed in on the black-haired beauty. "Yeah, why do you like it so much?" she asked, giving her a suspicious look. Jett noticed how uncomfortable the girl was getting, and quickly intervened. "Well, she probably needs a lot of iron to do all the acrobatics that she does!" Jett blurted out, giving a sheepish grin to Weiss. The heiress glared at Blake, but dropped her gaze and sighed. "Fine.." she grumbled. Blake looked sideways at Jett and mouthed: _Thank you_. He gave a nod, and continued to listen to the conversation between Matilda and Blake about different fishing spots around Vale.

 **...**

"So which one of us is stronger, M-girl?" Yang asked, smirking. The two girls of team JEMM looked at each other, then looked at her confused. "Umm, which one are you talking to?" Matilda asked. Yang smiled. "You, girl!" she exclaimed, pointing to Miranda. "We did team up, after all!" Miranda gave the blonde a curious look. "Hell, now I want to know, too." Jett chuckled. A fire lit from behind Miranda's eyes. "You're on, Xiao-Long." she said excitedly. The two girls began to grab night tables from around the beds to make a makeshift table to arm wrestle on. Jett pushed himself off the bed, and headed for the door for the balcony on the opposite side of the room. "Leaving?" Ruby asked. "Nah, just want to get some fresh air. Plus, we're on the fourth floor. You really think that I'd leave this way?" Jett laughed, giving her a wink. "Well, who knows if you're like my uncle and can turn into a crow, and fly away. Besides, can't you teleport?" she smiled. Jett laughed, blushing slightly. "See you in a minute, Rubes." He opened the sliding door, closing it as he walked outside.

Such a peaceful night. The sky's clear tonight, not a single cloud hanging above in the night air. The shattered moon hung low, it's light reflecting down on the world in waves of brilliance. A crow flew from a tree in the distance and streaked across the sky, it's form casting a shadow across the moon. Jett turned around and saw a wicker chair resting in the corner behind him, a blue pillow resting on it's back. He sat down on it, and reclined back. He took in the relaxing night around him in a passive sense, vaguely aware of his surroundings. He closed his slightly, resting them. His ears pricked up when he heard the sound of the sliding door opening. Soft footsteps walked out, and closed the door. He opened his eyes, and he saw Ruby standing with her back to him, looking up at the moon above.

Jett stretched his muscles, and got himself to his feet as quietly as possible. He tiptoed behind Ruby, stooped down, and hugged her by her waist. She yelped as Jett surprised her. "Hey there." he whispered. "I-I thought you fell asleep!" she squeaked. "Nah, just resting a bit." he responded. "Why are you out here, though?" Jett let go, and she turned to face him, her silver eyes reflecting against the moonlight as she turned. "Well, Yang won the bet between her and Miranda. So, she was trying to make everyone in the room do training exercises. I slipped out as soon as I could." "Don't you think that she'll come out here, then?" Jett asked, chuckling slightly. "Nooo...It's strange, but she's been acting weird since we came back from our...date." she trailed off. "Maybe it's because she's been trying to give us some privacy?" he suggested. "Maybe..." Ruby sighed.

A cold gust of wind chilled Ruby, who visibly shivered from the wind's touch. "Oh! Here, take this." Jett said, quickly taking his jacket off and draping it around Ruby's shoulders. "There. Is that better?" he asked. "Hmmm, almost..." she said in a playful tone. Ruby moved closer to Jett, and placed her head on his chest, smiling slightly. "Boop." she said. Jett smiled, and wrapped his arms around the black and red-haired girl, holding her tight. They swayed in place, moving in synch to an unseen rhythm only they could hear. Ruby lifted her head, and looked at Jett with those big, silver pools that threatened to swallowed him up.

"Jett..." she started, trailing off. "Yes?" "T-Thank you." "For what?" Jett asked, confused. "For putting up with my childish behavior." Jett started laughing. "What's the big idea? What's so funny, mister?" she asked, poking him in the chest with her index finger. "It's just funny that you think you're a burden." he explained, looking back down at her, and smiling. "You're anything but, Ruby Rose." Her face flushed red, and she dropped her gaze, suddenly finding his t-shirt interesting. A crow cawed in the back ground. Jett looked towards the moon, and he saw that same crow from earlier streak across the moon. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Ruby asked. Jett looked down and saw that she was looking at the shattered moon. "Nah, I think you look better." he added. She blushed again. "Are you just going to compliment me the whole night?" she smiled, pushing her bang behind her ear. Jett lifted a hand, and ran it down the side of her face. "Only if you don't stop me." Ruby turned her attention back to Jett. "Hmmm, I might be able to think of one way to shut you up..." "Oh? Well, why don't you show me, Ms. Rose?" "Just might have to..." The two inched closer and closer together until they were a hair's breath away from each other's faces. They smiled together, and embraced, the moonlight illuminating their faces from behind.


	14. Chapter 14: Never a Break

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 14: Never A Break**

After what felt like an eternity, Jett and Ruby parted lips, and looked at each other again. "Did we-" "Yup." "Are you okay?" "Yup." "..." "..." "Do you want to do that again?" "Yup." They locked lips again, and held each other in a passonate embrace. The two parted lips a second time, and they started to giggle, smiling at each other. Jett looked to the side, and saw everyone from the party with their faces pushed up against the glass, watching them. Yang was in the dead center, beaming from ear to ear. Blood rushed to the lovers' faces, and Ruby squealed. She disappeared in a plume of rose petals, and Jett followed suit, disappearing in a flash of lightning after Ruby.

 **...**

After some time, the two landed in a field just outside of Beacon. Ruby fell out of her petal vortex, and landed on the ground with a thud. Jett landed next to her, turning off his Semblance. "Here, let me help you up." Jett said, extending a hand to the disheveled girl. She accepted it, and pulled herself up to her feet. Ruby immediately kicked the ground in anger, her pale face now flush with anger. "I can't believe they did that!" she screamed. "I expected it from Matilda, but all of them?" Jett said quietly. "I can't show my face at the dorm now!" Ruby exclaimed. "Why not?" The girl looked at Jett with a look of astonishment. "What do you mean 'Why'?" she asked, raising her voice. "Because they'll think that I'm...I..." "Like boys?" Jett added, finishing the end of her sentence.

"No! That, I..." she trailed off, looking off to the side. "Ruby.." Jett said softly. He walked up to the distressed girl, and held her hands with his own, gripping them gently. "You don't want to be with me?" he asked playfully. "No, it's not that!" she exclaimed. Jett smiled, and put his hands on her shoulders. "Look, sure that was pretty embarassing. But if we don't show ourselves after something like that, we could never live it down later, right?" Jett explained. Ruby slowly nodded, still looking at the ground. "I'll be right here beside you, so we can both take the embarassment together." She looked up, and into Jett's eyes. "Promise?" she asked, holding her little finger out. "Promise." Jett replied, locking his finger with hers. "Thank you. You're the best, Pink Slip." A cricket chirped in the background as silence fell between them. "...Did you just call me, 'Pink Slip'?" "Yup!"

"Well, we should probably head back to Beacon now." Jett suggested, pointing back to the school in the distance. The two turned to walk back to the school, when Jett suddenly heard some bushes rustle behind them. "Leaving so soon?" a voice asked from behind. Jett whipped around, and saw a figure in an inky black cloak with it's hood pulled up standing at the edge of the clearing. Something told Jett to run, but he ignored the impulse. "Who are you?" he asked, putting himself between Ruby and this stranger. "Oh, just an old friend, my boy! Hehehehehe!" The man cackled maniacally. Jett's hands moved to his holsters, and found that they were empty! "Looking for these?" the stranger asked, holding up Ebony and Ivory in the air in front of him.

He held out Jett's weapons to his side, and charged at the pair. Jett put his arms in an X in front of him, and tried to gather enough Aura to block the blow. He closed his eyes to focus. _*Ting*_ What? Jett opened his eyes, and saw Crescent Rose's blade inches away from his face, blocking the assailant's attack. "Don't. Touch. Him." Ruby growled. "Oooh! This Rose has thorns!" the stranger cackled. Using Aura-fueled strength, she pushed back the attacker several feet. Whipping her scythe around her, she aimed the barrel at the man in the cloak, loading a bullet into the chamber.

"Let's get more comfortable!" the man exclaimed, gripping the edges of his cloak. In a single motion, he ripped the fabric in half, revealing the person beneath. The assailant appeared to a be a middle-aged, fidgety man. The man had a slicked back head of black hair, trailing down his back into a tight braid. The man wore a white undershirt, black cargo shorts, with suspenders that went over his shoulders. He wore a crazy look on his face, his tongue half out, as he was giving an insane smile. A long, slick, black scorpion tail revealed itself from behind his back, it's cherry-red stinger coming into view. On the man's bandaged wrists, a set of curved blades lay folded to each side of his wrists, attached to a central control mechanism. In the middle of the blades, Jett could swear that he could see two barrels sticking out slightly. The man howled, and threw Jett's blades to the side, unfolding his own out. Now that Jett could see them extended, they looked very similar to scorpion pincers.

"Time to kill! Hehehehehehehe!" the man shouted excitedly, charging at the two of them again, this time with his own weapons. _Looks like I might have to use Mirror Blade._ Jett thought, flexing his legs. _I really hope Ruby can pick up my slack when I can't fight._ Ruby deflected the blow again, but Jett could tell that she was getting tired. "Ruby?" She looked at Jett. "Yes?" she panted. "I have a plan. But it'll put me out of commission for a little while when I do this. Can you cover me?" he explained. Straightening up, Ruby twirled her scythe around her. "You got it, Pink Slip." Jett grunted. "We have GOT to come up with better names for each other.." he grumbled. "Done ploting over there?" the man shouted, impatience straining in his voice. "Go ahead, Ruby." She nodded, and charged at the assailant, bringing her blade down on his.

Jett closed his eyes for a moment, and sighed. "In terms of passing, we become immortal. Those closest to us become strength, and those against us become fodder!" Jett muttered, screaming on the last line. He forced his eyes open, and they immediately filled with pink energy. His aura changed colours, turning from bright yellow to bright pink. Jett's face contorted and he focused harder, his aura becoming even brighter than before. Soon, Jett's Aura became a single pillar of light in the middle of this clearing, raging all around him. He cast his hand at the assailant, his eyes swimming with power, and Jett uttered a single phrase: "Mirror Blade!" Time slowed down to Jett, and he saw the assailant look in Jett's direction in surprise. Ruby noticed what Jett was going to do, and disappeared in a display of rose petals. Suddenly, copies of Jett appeared out of the ether, dashing to and fro past the attacker, slashing him as they past. This melee continued for several more seconds, before Jett dropped his arm in exhaustion. He dropped to his knees, his Aura completely depleted, hundreds of cuts started to form all over his body.

Jett looked up at the attacker, and saw the man paralyzed in pain, hundreds of cuts covering his body, as well. "How did you...?" the man choked out. Blood began to pour out of his wounds, and pool onto the ground. Jett smiled, but dropped it quickly as he began to feel his own wounds start to ooze blood from them. Ruby reappeared next to Jett, holding his shoudler, and looking down at the wounds he accumulated all over his body. "How? Why?" she exclaimed, trying to put her hand over the largest wound on his abdomen. Jett smiled slightly. "It's the same...ability you saw in Professor Port's class when I fought with Weiss." he managed to get out. "Why did this affect you more than before?" she frantically asked. "Because last time, I didn't pour all my Aura into the attack, so some of it took the hit for me. This time, I pooled all of my Aura together, and it tore me up the same as...him." he explained pointing to their attacker.

"Speaking of which, I'm not dead!" _No. It can't be. I poured everything I had into that attack. It should have killed him!_ The man picked himself up off the ground, slipping on his own blood halfway up. "Also, NOW I'M PISSED!" The man howled in pain, and charged again, moving faster than before. _There's no way either of us will survive this attack. We're goners. Heh, and I just got a girlfriend too..._ Jett closed his eyes, and accepted his fate. Ruby tried to raise her scythe, but was too exhausted to pick it up properly. "DIE!" "I think not." a proper voice rang out to the left of him. Suddenly, another figure in a dark green cloak intercepted the angry assailant mid attack, holding the blades on one of his gauntlets together with one hand. No blood poured from the new strangers hand, so apparently he must have hand somthing metal blocking the blow.

"Tyrion, must I remind you that you were not suppose to kill him? Only detain him." the man growled. The assailant, apparently named Tyrion, recoiled, trying to snatch his arm back from the man, to no avail. "But The Mistress wouldn't have cared if I roughed him up a little, would she?" Tyrion asked, giving a sly grin. The man glared at the Faunus with barely restrained anger, his eyes glowing embers. He released Tyrion's arm back to him, which the faunus gratefully snatched back. "Now if you'll excuse me." Tyrion murmured, flipping his blades on his gauntlets back out. "No, I will take him." The scorpion Faunus looked up at the giant in the cloak with a sneer. "And are you going to stop me, FREAK? Hehehehehe!" Tyrion cackled. "Yes. Leave now." The stranger's eyes bore into the deranged man, apparently unerving the Faunus, who back down and flipped his blades closed. "Fine, on your head be the consequences." Tyrion stated grimly. The Faunus man turned, and ran into the forest, disappearing into the night.

The man turned to face the two of them, and walked slowly over to them, before kneeling in front of them. Jett lifted his head from where it hung and looked at the stranger. "If you're going to kill me...just do it already..." Jett said weakly. "Oh, I have no intention of killing you, Jett." The stranger's eyes dimmed in brightness as he grabbed for his hood. He cast off the fabric and revealed the distorted face of his attacker from earlier on in the week! "Son." he said kindly. So many questions raced through Jett's mind; all of his neurons firing at once, desparately searching for the answers that he needed. He held his head in shock, and felt woozy from the blood loss. "Easy, easy now." Jett's father said as held the boy upright.

Jett looked to the side wearily and saw Ruby in a similar state of shock. She gripped the edges of her skirt tight, making her knuckles turn white. "H-How is this possible?" She asked shakily. "Y-You're a...Grimm!" The deformed man chuckled, his voice making a low, guttral sound. "I'll explain everything on the way. Don't worry, I'm not capturing either of you. I just want to take care of my son." he explained. Jett glared at the man. "Oh, so now you care...!" he muttered, struggling to stay concious. "Just sleep. Me and your girlfriend here will take care of everything." The last thing Jett saw before he passed out was Ruby's alarmed face at that statement. Seconds later, the world went black, and Jett drifted off to sleep..


	15. Chapter 15: Revelations

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 15: Revelations**

"Jett..." a gruff voice said, as he drifted in and out of conciousness. "Jett, c'mon. Wake up.." He lay still, quietly snoozing. "Jett-nevermind." He could hear a person get up from next to him and walk away from him. He heard the man talk with someone on the other side of the room, their mumbles unclear from where he was. Jett turned on his side, away from the voices, and fell back asleep.

"Jett..." a softer voice cooed from behind. The woman placed a soft hand on his shoulder, shaking it slightly. "Wake up, sleepy." He grimmaced, and curled up slightly. The hand suddenly tightened it's grip for a moment, before loosening up again. "Just wait until she gets back. Won't be long." the gruff voice explained. The woman let go of his shoulder, and Jett fell back into a deep sleep...

 **...**

"Jett, wake up. They need to talk to us." a familiar voice stated. "Noooo...too comfy.." he mumbled. The girl sighed. She grabbed his shoulder and rolled him on his back. Her soft lips graced his in a soft embrace. Jett opened his eyes to see Ruby looking back at him. They parted, and she blushed. "You know, there are other ways to wake a person up, right?" Jett teased, sitting up. Ruby smirked. "Yeah, I know. But you wouldn't wake up the first time I tried." she said, poking him in the chest with her index finger. Ruby took a seat next to him on the cot he was sitting on.

Jett looked around. He and Ruby were sitting in a small log cabin out in the middle of the woods somewhere. The cabin around him was mdily furnished, as if it was only used every once in a while. A fire lay off to the right of him, stairs leading upstairs and the doorway to the kitchen off to the right. The front door opened and two people walked inside from the outside. The first person to come through the door was an attractive, mid-height, Asian woman who gave off a "don't mess with me attitude", and the fashion sense to match. The mystery woman wore a white, faux leather jacket with a black V-neck, and black skinny jeans. The light caught and reflected on something around her neck. Jett looked closer, and saw that the woman had an Ice Dust crystal fastened to a silver chain around her neck. At her waist, hung two, gleaming sliver rapiers, that glinted against the light coming from outside.

The...creature calling himself Jett's father walked in behind her. Suprisingly, he wasn't as large as he was before, and he could fit through the doorway. The man cast off his hood, and look at Jett with a tired expression, but he quickly gave a small smile when he looked at Jett. "I'm sorry we couldn't meet under better circumstances, Son." the man started. "First," Jett said, raising a finger in the air. "I need to know your name. I'm not just going to call you 'Dad'." The man unclasped his cloak, and hung it up on the wall behind him. "Jett." "Yes?" "That's the name." Jett gave the man a confused look. "No, that's my name." "And where do you think you got that name from? Me. I'm Jett Oswind, Junior." The man said with a grin. It slowly dawned on Jett what he meant. He shot up with realization. "Oh!" Jett exclaimed.

"Yes, while this is all facinating, can we please get on with it?" the woman said impatiently. Jett Sr. nodded, and turned back around to face Jett and Ruby. Jett noticed that his father looked different from the last time he saw him. Which, coincidentally, he was trying to kill him, too. The half of his face that wasn't changed wore a neutral expression. His skin was tan, and his grey eye sparkled in recognition. The man had his dark brown hair slicked back, and he wore a faded green flannel with yellow lines on it, instead of white. He wore brown fishing pants that held up with suspenders that looped around his shoulders. On his feet, he wore grungy-looking hiking boots that looked worn from the road. On the other half, that's where things get strange. The other half of his body was covered in moving darkness that constantly moved and shifted along the split between the halves of his body. Half of his face was covered in an alabaster white mask with glowing red markings on it. The eye peering out seemed to glow, as if made entirely of fire. His arm and body seemed less...big, as it was when the two of them fought. _It seems like he can control the size of that half..._ Jett thought.

"Yes, well this here is Angel Bao. She's been helping me ever since...this happened to me." Jett Sr. explained, gesturing to the deformed half of his body. "How?" Ruby finally spoke up. Jett Sr. scratched the back of his head with his free hand. "Well, I really can't...you know.." "Too much information!" Jett exclaimed, cutting across his father. Jett Sr scowled. "Anyways," he said, turning back to the two of them. "I think it's about time to tell you the truth about what happened..."

"You see, I once was a Hunter. One of the best, actually. I was often contracted into taking down some of the biggest nastiest Grimm around." Jett Sr. explained. He gave a wink at his son. "Heard about you taking down the Beringel with your team, Jett. Matilda definitely has some of my blood in her." he chuckled. *Ahem* Angel cleared her throat, and gestured to continue the story. "Eh, sorry. I'll get back to it." "Well, with all this attention, I happened to be away from home pretty often." Jett Sr. cleared his throat, and drank some water from a glass next to him. "Me being away from home so often prompted Millie, your mother, to get...familiar with one of the other dock workers where we lived, if you catch my drift." Jett Sr. pointed at Jett Jr. "THAT man is your biological father. But he split when I *Ahem* found out." Angel laughed slightly. "That's one way to put it. They never found the rest of him, you know?" Jett's father scowled at the young Huntress.

"Anyways, I did the best I could to raise you up until you were 4." Jett Sr. continued. "Work dried up, and we were scraping the bottom of the barrel. That's when I met HER." Jett leaned in. "Who?" he asked. The man dropped his head, and uttered a single name: "Salem." Angel shivered at the mentioned of the name. "Nasty piece of work. But she had the ability to create Grimm, so we worked out a deal. She continued to create Grimm near the village so I can provide for the family, and I would work with her scientist, who went by the name: Dr. Watts, on his 'experiments'." "Wait, who is Salem? She sounds important. And a bit scary." Ruby asked. "Not getting into it now. But just know that she's an enemy of humanity, and I should have never dealt with her." Jett Sr. answered. "Back to the story. Doc Watts had an idea for an experiment involving copying the Aura and Semblance of three different people onto one person." Ruby gasped. "Is that even possible?" she asked incredulously. "If you listen, I could explain it to you, young lady." Ruby gave a sheepish grin, and dropped her head.

"Anyways, this was a revolutionary concept, seeing as it had never been done before. So, as is nature, we hid it. We set up the labrotory in a system of caves underneath the village." Jett Sr continued. "Also, I had a personal stake in it, too." he added. "How so?" Jett asked. "Well, when you were born, you had no discoverable or unlockable Aura in your body. No Aura, no Semblance. So I wanted to see you become stronger than me, which is why I volunteered to be one of the subjects for the experiments." "What!?" Jett exclaimed, jumping up from his cot. "Is that why we have the same Semblance?" Ruby reached up and grabbed Jett's hand, and squeezed softly. "Sit back down, Jett." she said calmingly. He nodded and took a seat again.

"It was me, and two other people as the test subjects. And, as you can imagine, were the direct beneficiary." Jett Sr. started again, taking a sip of his water. "It was horrible. We were subjected to...horrific experiments in order for Doc Watts to figure out a way to do what we signed up for." The man sighed, and continued on. "Well, he finally figure out a way to do the experiment without killing any of us, or you. The experiment commenced, and was a success. All the Auras and Semblances of everyone involved imprinted on you without a hitch." Jett leaned back, and stared at his hands.

"I find all of this hard to believe...Dad." Jett said quietly. "Well, one way to figure it out is to look at our Auras." "What?" Jett looked up, and saw Jett Sr. showing his Aura around him. It was light blue, with tinges of black in it. "Go ahead, use your time dialation. You'll see when you look at your Aura." Jett nodded, and focused, activating his Semblance. Time slowed down around him, and he opened his eyes and looked at his Aura. It was the same! Light blue with black streaks! Jett closed his eyes again, and turned his Semblance off. "You never wondered why you have three different Auric colours?" Jett Sr chuckled, looking pleased with himself. "I just thought that it was normal.." Ruby smiled slightly. "I could have told you that, dummy.." she teased.

"Can we please hurry this up? I'd like to get on with my day." Angel impatiently asked. "Yeah, yeah. Let me finish, woman.." Jett Sr scowled once again at the brash woman. His right half rippled in annoyance, and his eye grew brighter. "Well, it was during this time when we were guinnea pigs that I met with a Hunter named: Qrow Branwen." Ruby's eyes lit up, and Jett froze in place. "That's my uncle!" Ruby exclaimed, suddenly excited. "Heheh, yeah..." Jett Sr noticed his son's change in attitude, and apparently decided not to question it further. "Anyways, turns out that he was one of the Headmaster's informants. His views, and the information he gave me, changed my mind about the operation I was in. I just wanted to get you out of this mess, Jett. So, we devised a plan to do just that."

"Thing is, plans usually go wrong." Jett Sr stated, looking down. "The experiment progressed faster than Qrow could move to help us. As I said before, the experiment was a success. However, Watts wanted to take it a step further, and make you a mindless puppet." Ruby gasped, and grabbed Jett by his side, pulling him close. "No. Mine." she said curtly. Jett Sr cracked a smile. "Well, he obviously didn't get his wish. His smile turned back into a frown. "I...I was the reason why they didn't get enough time to do what they wanted on Jett." Jett Sr. confessed. "I quickly offered to take his place for another experiment. It made me into what I am. See, apparently, Salem can control Grimm. So, turning someone into a hybrid, you get the best of both worlds. The creativity of the human brain, and the ability to use Aura and Semblances, mixed with the ruthlessness and simple-minded nature of a Grimm."

"It was about this time when your mother, Millie, found out about what we were doing to you." Jett Sr continued on. "Well, Salem gave me a simple choice: Kill Millie, or her Grimm would murder both Millie and you." Jett's eyes opened wide. He felt Ruby squeeze him a bit harder. Jett looked down, and saw her looking at him. She didnt say a word, but he could tell that she understood his loss all too well. Jett looked back at his father, and gulped. "G-Go on." he stuttered. Jett really didn't want to know the rest of the story, but he needed to know the rest. "I...chose you." Jett Sr said, shakily. "You have to understand: I had no choice. Damned if you do, damned if you don't. I am so sorry. I've lived with that regret ever since then." Jett shook his head. "Just keep going, please."

"Alright. After making...that descision, that's when things got hectic." Jett Sr kept going, nearing the end of his story. "Qrow had finally arrived, bringing the Headmaster, Ozpin, with him. Mayhem insued. Ozpin fought Salem in an epic battle, Qrow took on Watts and his created Grimm. Meanwhile, in the chaos, I grabbed you and took off." "What happened next?" Jett asked. "Well, two things. First, I needed to find my friend, Dante Everburn. He was a friend of mine that could burn memories away, essentially erasing the memories." Jett Sr. explained. "Second, I needed him to take you away from there. I couldn't risk Salem controlling me into attacking you." "Your friend didn't do a good enough job." Jett stated plainly. "What?" "So far, I've had two flashbacks. First one was in a book store when the smell of the books reminded me. The other time was after you attacked me, when I spoke to the Headmaster." Jett explained. "WHAT?" Jett Sr exclaimed, jumping up from his chair. "Tell me what you remember exactly!" he insisted.

"...So that's what I remember." Jett finished. "What were those numbers?" "It's the date and time of the experiment." Jett's father explained. "November 31st, 2022. 7:23PM." Jett looked confused. "Hmm..I thought it was the date and time that I performed my Mirror Blade for the first time." "Your what?" "The ability you saw me use on the man you called Tyrion?" Jett Sr nodded. "Ah, that." "Wait." Jett froze. "You're not still controlled, are you?" Ruby straightened up, realizing the same thing. The two separated and got up quickly, moving the cot in between the the two of them and Jett's father. Jett Sr let out a deep chuckle. "Yeah, no. Angel here is good for other things than fighting." She shrugged. "I studied a bit in neuroscience, so I came up with a neuro-signal blocker that I implanted in his brain to block Salem's mind control signal." she explained, bracing herself up with the wall.

Jett and Ruby untensed, looked at each other, then back to Jett Sr and Angel. "There's still one thing that I don't understand, though." "Oh?" Jett Sr asked, raising an eyebrow. "And what's that?" "Why did Matilda tell me the wrong version of the story?" "To put it simply, she didn't know the real version, because no one told her the right story on purpose." Angel pushed off the wall, and walked forward. "It's very hard to tell a four year old that her old man just murdered her mother because a psychopath gave him no choice." she explained.

Jett Sr stood up, and walked back over to the door, and opened it up, letting in the sunlight. "I think that's enough for one night." he grunted. "We'll still be looking into a way to get back at Salem. But, for now, you need to go back to Beacon and let your friends know that you're alright." "Yeah, good idea.." Jett muttered. He looked back at the cot, and grabbed his jacket off of it, pulling it on. "Actually, what time is it anyway?" Angel looked at her watch. "11:23am." Jett turned a shade of crimson. _Shit. The rest of JEMM and RWBY will think that we were doing something all night...!_ Ruby must have had the same thought, because her face turned the same shade as Jett's. "We gotta go!" Jett shouted suddenly, and beelined for the door, Ruby on his heels. Jett Sr. held out his arm, and essentially clotheslined the young man, stopping him rather quick.

"Hey, what's the big idea?" Jett scowled, holding his throat. Jett Sr dropped his arm, and held out Ebony & Ivory out with his other hand. "Here. Almost forgot your weapons." "Heheh, thanks Pops." he said, gratefully taking his weapons. Jett changed them to gun mode, and put them in their hoslters. Jett walked out the door with Ruby. "Come back next week! We should have some results then!" Jett Sr exclaimed. He closed the door behind them. "Well, lets head back and face our teams.." Jett said begrugingly. Ruby reluctantly nodded. The two of the them turned and made their way back to the school in the distance.


	16. Chapter 16: Just One Normal Day

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 16: Just One Normal Day**

The sun peaked in the sky overhead as Jett and Ruby stepped into the main courtyard. "I don't think that they will be that upset about it." Jett remarked, trying to stay optimistic. Ruby sighed. "Jett, we stayed away from our dorms for the entire night, and into some of the morning. I'd be surprised if Yang doesn't try to kill you on sight." Jett gave the girl a confused look. "But...I thought Yang was okay with the thought of us dating?" Jett asked. "Dating, yes. Doing...other things, no." she stated, adding a disgusted look at the last bit.

As if on que, Jett spotted the blonde bombshell standing against one of the doors, as if it was a warning. As soon as the blonde noticed Jett and Ruby, she threw down her arms, unfolding Ember Ceilica. Jett's hand went defensively to Ebony's hilt. Yang calmly walked down the school's steps, and up to the young couple. "Ruby, would you please go inside while I talk to your boy toy here?" she asked, her voice cold. "Yang, we weren't-" Ruby started, but was cut off by her sister's red-eyed stare. "R-Right. I'm going up our room." Ruby stated, running past Yang and into the school.

"Now," Yang started, turning her attention back to Jett. "I'm going to give you one chance to tell me why you and my sister didn't come back after the party until now." She cocked her left gauntlet back, loading a Dust round into the chamber. "And please, lie to me." she added. Yang looked pissed, but she kept her anger restrained behind a cold facade. Yang's eyes still glowed red, just like they did when they fought the Beringel together. Jett took a deep breath, and looked the blonde in her red eyes. "Well, here's what happened..."

 **...**

"So, that's the gist of it." Jett finished. He omitted a few parts(for personal reasons), but her told her everything that had happened after they left. From the fight with Tyrion, to their rescue at the hands of his father. Jett had to omit the parts about his past and what his father is, though. Which only irritated Yang further. "Nothing else happened!" Jett pleaded. Yang's eyes swtiched back to their usual lilac hue, and she retracted Ember Celica. "Alright, I believe you. Good talk, bud." she said, walking past Jett and patting him on the shoudler, leaving him bewilderd. _So far, Ruby's family is pretty strange._ Jett thought to himself. _Huh, guess I can't really say much, now that I think of it._

 **...**

After the long trek back up to Team JEMM's room, Jett let himself in through the door, and beheld what looked like a disaster. The kitchen was wrecked, plates thrown everywhere, unidentufiable foods mixed together in a pot on the stove, boiling over. On the ceiling, there was what looked like a bowl of spaghetti stuck to it, noodles dangling down from the ceiling. The beds were thrown up against the wall, the nightstands were halfway out the door for the balcony. The door to the bathroom hung on by one hinge, the other ripped off and thrown across the room. "What the hell happened?" Jett asked, scratching his head. Footsteps sounded out behind him. Jett turned, and saw the rest of team JEMM running down the hall towards him.

"Guys, what happened?" Jett asked quickly. Matilda shook her head. "Don't know who, but someone broke into our room, and trashed the place." "We just got back from reporting it to the Headmaster." Eccon added, crossing his arms. "So, no one has any idea who did it?" Jett asked, trying to get an answer. "Well," Miranda started, pulling out a note out of her back pocket. "someone must have a grudge against you, Jett." She handed him the note. Jett opened it up, and read the following: " _If you think that stunt in the courtyard was the end of it, then you're not very bright! THIS ISN'T OVER._ " Jett folded up the note, and slipped it into his back pocket. He sighed. "Cardin." Jett whispered. Eccon and Matilda jumped; Miranda gave a surprised look.

"Geeze, Jett. What did you do to him?" Eccon chuckled. "Basically humiliated him. A small confrontation escalated into a full-on fight, and I won without using weapons, while he was using his weapon, and what I assumed was his Semblance." Jett explained, shrugging his shoulders. "What do you mean?" Matilda asked. "Well, fire erupted from the ground in a straight line when he bashed his mace into it." Jett observed. "Well, what ever it is, I think we're good for now." Jett smiled, giving a thumbs-up to the rest of his team. "Really? That's it? I wanted to bash the dude's face in!" Miranda exclaimed, giving a look of disappointment. "Hey, we gotta wait for him to try it again, Mir." Eccon commented. "He's right." Jett added. "We'll just be ready this time!" Team JEMM looked at each other, gave each other a nod, and went into their dorm to try and clean up this mess.

 **...Two Weeks Later...**

Team JEMM were in their respective seats as they sat through another lecture by Professor Oobleck. "And that, children, is why Anima is one of the worst climates to build a city in!" Oobleck finished, gesturing at the chalkboard. The teacher turned back to the class, and saw that, save for a few students, all were alseep. Professor Oobleck sighed, and pushed his glasses higher up the bridge of his nose. The Professor took another sip of his coffee, and immediately spit it out into the air. Somehow, Oobleck turned the coffee into fire, and lit up the classroom, waking up the sleeping students up with a jolt. Jaune fell out of his seat, Cardin snapped awake. Jett, who was close to the teacher in the front row, fell backwards out of his seat, barely avoid the flames.

"STUDENTS!" Professor Oobleck exclaimed. "Class is for learning, not for sleeping! If anyone falls asleep in my class again, I will give detention to you all!" The entire class sat up in their seats at once; Jett and Jaune recovered and picked themselves up off the ground. "Now!" Professor Oobleck started, turning back to the board to continue his lesson. Jett braced his hand against his face and propped up his head, trying not to fall back asleep. He looked to his right, and saw Team RWBY sitting next him. _Hmm, must not have heard them sit down._ Jett thought to himself. Suprisingly, he saw Ruby next him, diligently taking notes on Oobleck's lecture. "Psst, Rubes." Jett whispered. "Hmm?" she answered, not taking her eyes off her paper as she wrote. "You bored?" "Yup." Jett turned his head back forward as Oobleck passed in front of him. "You wanna spar after this class is over?" he asked, already knowing the answer. "Yup."

"Mr. Oswind! Do you and Ms. Rose have something to add to the discussion?" Oobleck said, suddenly appearing in front of the two. "Uhhhhh, no...?" Jett responded, confused. Oobleck slammed his thermos down on the table loudly. "Then I suggest you wait until AFTER class to make after school plans!" The Professor zipped away from their table as fast as he appeared, and went straight back into the lesson. Ruby shot Jett an annoyed look, and he gave back a sheepish grin. The two of them turned back to the teacher and continued to take notes on the lesson.


	17. Chapter 17: Lapse in Judgement

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 17: Lapse in Judgement**

"You are all dismissed!" Professor Oobleck exclaimed. "Remember to read through pages 124-144. I want an essay on my desk by next Wednesday! Have a good day, students!" The Professor zipped by Jett as he walked out of the class with the rest of his team. "Ruby!" a voice exclaimed from behind. Jett turned in time to see a petal-form of Ruby speed past him, and away from a fuming Weiss. Ruby changed out of her petal form long enough to shout: "Meet you in the ampitheater, Jett!" She changed back to roses, and disappeared.

Weiss ran past the smiling boy, and scanned her surrounding for a hint of red. She sighed. "I swear, she is so childish!" Weiss huffed. "What's wrong, Weiss?" Jett asked. "She grabbed my binder! It had all my Dust notes in it. Now how am I going to study?" she explained, crossing her arms across her chest with a scowl. "Eh, studying is overrated." a voice answered. Jett looked behind him and saw Eccon, and the rest of team JEMM, walk out of Oobleck's classroom. Eccon smiled. "Sup, Ice Queen?" "Why does everyone keep calling me that?" Weiss pouted. "Well, because Miranda wasn't exactly partial to it." Jett laughed, catching an annoyed look from the frigid heiress.

"Well, I'll catch you guys, later!" Jett exclaimed, waving at his team. "Where are you going, brother?" Matilda asked. "To go spar with Ruby for a bit." Matilda tilted her head to the side. "Mind if I come along? It's been a while since I sparred." Jett flinched, and silently swore to himself. _Was looking to have some quiet time with Ruby after the sparring matches..._ He thought, annoyed. "Sure, could always use another partner!" Jett exclaimed, turning and putting on a fake smile for Matilda. She gave a genuine smile back, and jumped up, putting a fist in the air. "Yes! This is going to be awesome!" Matilda said excitedly, swaying back and forth. "Well, I guess we'll see you guys later?" Eccon asked. "Yeah, we won't be gone the whole day, though!" Jett exclaimed. The two siblings ran down the hall, waving to their teammates left behind.

 **...**

"How have we never seen the ampitheater until now?" Jett asked, mouthing dropping open. _Holy architecture. This place is gorgeous._ Jett thought to himself. Jett felt like he stepped into a cathedral: High vaulted ceiling, intricate, painted glass windows letting the light in, and casting a whole kalidoscope of different colours on the floor below. Crown molding framed the windows on the ceiling perfectly, running into the designs on the walls seemlessly. Rows of seats lined the walls, elevated from where they stood, almost like stadium seating. The two teens closed the doors leading into the ampitheater behind them, a loud *Thump* echoing across the silence of the space.

Another loud thump resounded, and Jett's attention was directed towards the locker rooms to the right. Out of the door, walked a small figure with a black dress with red fringe, a red cape, and a huge mechanical scythe folded neatly and fastened to her back: Ruby. The siblings walked up to the distracted Ruby. "Hey, Rubes." Jett said. "Hey, Jett!" Ruby smiled. "What's your sister doing here?" Jett scratched the back of his neck. "Well, she said that she wanted to spar with us." He explained. Ruby nodded. "You can't fight fight wearing your uniform. Go ahead, and get changed." She nodded at the doors behind her. Jett and Matilda walked around the young girl, and headed into their respective locker rooms.

 **...**

After 15 minutes of preparing, Jett walked out the men's locker room, regular clothes on, Ebony & Ivory in their holsters. Looking around, the young man couldn't see either Ruby or Matilda anywhere. "Heads up!" a voice exclaimed. Suddenly, Ruby collided with him in her petal form, sending him into the wall, cracking part of it with his body. "Damn..." he muttered, wincing at the pain.

"I am so sorry!" Ruby exclaimed. She ran over to Jett's side, and tried pulling him out of the wall. "I'm good, Rubes." he assured the young girl. Jett's eyes streaked yellow, and he disappeared and reappeared next to Ruby on the ground. "All good." "I'm sorry! I missed your sister when I tried hitting her with my petal vortex." Jett waved her off. "Told ya: Im good. Aura is already healing my rib." He looked up, and indeed Ruby and Matilda were in combat. Matilda coiled up, and launched herself at Ruby. Jett leaned down, and kissed his girlfriend on the cheek. "Go get'em, Rubles." he said with a smile. Ruby froze in shock, while Jett disappeared in a flash of yellow light and appeared in the stands.

"Focus, Rose!" Matilda exclaimed, rearing her arm back to strike. Ruby remembered that she was still in combat, and snapped back to reality. Disappearing in the flurry of rose petals, Ruby reappeared back in the middle of the theater, facing and now confused Matilda. Crete recovered quickly, and turned to start running at the newly positioned Ruby. "You gonna stop moving and fight?" Matilda growled, getting visibly annoyed. Ruby laid a hand on Crescent Rose's frame on her back, focusing and waiting on Matilda's charge. Predictably, Matilda charged and took a swipe at Ruby. She disappeared in a plume of rose petals.

"Hey!" a voice exclaimed from above. Matilda looked up, and saw an airborne Ruby, flipping out of a sideways roll, holding her scythe's handle with both hands behind her back. Slicing her weapon in an arc above her head, she threw herself and Cresent Rose dowards at Matilda. The swordsman put up both of her swords in an X and prepared to block the blow. The two's blades clashed in an instant, creating a small shockwave of force that rippled throughout the ampitheater. The two girls tensed, and pushed off from each other, trying to get distance from the other.

"Not bad, Rose." Matilda remarked. "Same!" Ruby said cheerfully. "Now, however, it's time to get serious.." The swordsman muttered. Ruby cocked her head to the side. "Serious?" Matilda slammed her blades together, hilt to tip. Mechanical noises emitted from the blades, as they assimilated each other. In Matilda's hands, she held a heavy-looking, intricate greatsword. _How does she hold that thing up? Looks extremely heavy._ Jett thought, watching the pair from up in the stands. Ruby smirked, twirling her scythe around her. Matilda looked back up at Ruby, and her eyes were glowing!

Matilda locked eyes with the young girl, who seemed taken aback by Matilda's glowing eyes, which was currrently fluctuating between her eye colour and Ruby's. "Let's have some fun." Matilda smiled cruely. Around the two of them, countless Matildas sprang into existence, all holding the girl's giant greatsword aloft. One by one, the afterimages ran at Ruby, slashing at the young girl. Dodging to and fro, Ruby skillfully avoided Matilda's slow attacks. Suddenly, the after images disappeared, and Ruby's vision turned black.

"Gah! I can't see!" Ruby exclaimed, recoiling and scratching at her eyes. "That means you're wide-open." Matilda whispered, appearing next to the young Huntress. Her blade raked across Ruby's side, silver Aura flashing into existence, taking the hit. Ruby's vision cleared, and she put Crescent Rose back up. "Grrrrr...You'll pay for that.." she grumbled. "Yrrrrrargh!" Ruby screamed, running at Matilda, the blade of her scythe out to the side. Matilda smirked, putting her blade out in front of her to anticipate the blow. Ruby swung once, while Matilda blocked the blow with the flat of her blade.

Pressing a hidden trigger on the handle of Crescent Rose, Ruby fired a sniper round, shooting herself backwards. The young Huntress backflipped, and landed with Crescent Rose between her and the ground, balancing on the blade. Pressing the hidden trigger again, Ruby propelled herself into the air. Matilda furrowed her brow, and broke her weapon apart into two parts, like it was before, in a single motion. Ruby came screaming out of the air with her blade, spinning like a crazy, upended top. The split second before she was hit, Matilda disappeared into mist, dissolving into the wind.

"Behind you." Matilda whispered from behind. Ruby whipped around, only to find nothing. In a flash of light, Matilda streaked across the ampitheater, and raked her blades across Ruby's side again. The young girl dropped to her knees, Auric shield breaking and disappearing. Matilda gave a cruel smile, eyes glowing evily. Ruby raised her head, and looked at the girl standing over her, her silver blade placed next to Ruby's throat. "I win." Matilda said, giving a dismissive look. She gave another evil smile, and raised her blade, preparing for a killing blow.

 _What is she doing!?_ Jett thought, jumping up from his seat. He closed his eyes and focused, activating two parts of his Semblance: Time Dilation, and Teleportation. His Aura flared around him green, combining his blue and yellow Auras. Jett opened his eyes and within a second, he appeared next to Matilda in a streak of lightning. He grabbed the girl's arm, and turned his Semblance off. Matilda pulled forward, only to realize that Jett was standing behind her, holding her arm back.

"Matilda, that's enough. Get a hold of yourself!" Jett barked. The girl looked at him with anger. Matilda's eyes stopped glowing, and she looked around confused for a moment. Then she looked down and saw Ruby; Matilda's eyes widened, and she dropped her weapons. She stood there, shaking, for several minutes, before Matilda turned in the other direction and ran towards the showers, slamming and locking the doors behind her.

"Owwww oww oww..." Ruby grumbled. Jett looked down, and saw the young girl clutching her stomach in pain. "Ruby!" he exclaimed, crouching down. He scanned over her body for any visble wounds. "Stomache...hurt..." Ruby mumbled, wincing in pain. "What's wrong? Did you get cut there?" She shook her head. "Need...cookies...Hungry..." "Really?" Jett asked. "Uh-huh.." she nodded weakly. Jett couldn't help but smile at that. "Alright, let's get you up. We can go and get some dinner." Jett put his hand on her back, and draped her arm around his shoulder, gingerly lifting her up in a supported carry. She put her weight on him, and started walking alongside Jett, albeit a bit slower.

"C'mon. One foot in front of the other, Rubles." Jett teased, helping her walk. "...Hate you.." she grumbled. "Yeah, yeah..." The two made their way out of the ampitheater doors and down the hall towards the mess hall.


	18. Chapter 18: Pests Appear!

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 18: Pests Appear!**

The sun outside started it's descent down as Jett led Ruby down the coridor to the Mess Hall. The two were silent for several minutes as Jett helped the young girl walk the way. Eventually, Jett broke the silence with a cough. "Yes?" Ruby said weakly. "Nothing. Just too quiet in this hallway." Jett remarked. Ruby giggled softly. She gripped tighter on to Jett's side as she tried to hug him. A brown blur flit from the corner of Jett's eye. His ears perked up as the sound of footsteps faded into the distance. Jett untensed his muscles. "You okay?" Ruby asked. "Yeah, I just thought I saw somethin-" Before he could finish, a figure appeared before him and flash of white light blinded him. "MY EYYYYYYYEES!" Jett cried out, accidentally dropping Ruby and shielding his bulbs.

"Oh gosh, I'm so sorry!" a femenine voice with an interesting lilt exclaimed. He felt an unfamiliar set of hands helping him up to his feet. Jett's vision started to clear, and he saw a brown-haired, brown-eyed rabbit faunus girl standing before him. "Velvet?" Jett asked, still dazed from the flash. "I am so sorry!" the faunus girl apologized again. "You already said that." Jett looked around to see Ruby standing over by the window, looking outside. He walked over to her side, and tapped her on the shoulder. "You okay?" he asked. Ruby whipped around, and bashed her forehead against shoudler. "Ow. Yeah, I'm fine. Still really hungry, but fine." she said, smiling slightly and rubbing her forehead with her palm.

"What'd you do with that flash?" Jett asked, focusing on the faunus girl. "I took your picture." Velvet stated simply. "You two looked so cute together that I just wanted to capture the moment!" Jett and Ruby simultaniously flushed deep red. Velvet smiled kindly. "Don't worry. It's not like it'll be in the yearbook, or anything." Jett gave a look of surprsie. "We have a yearbook?" he asked. The faunus girl laughed, and shook her head. "Let's go! Gotta make sure we don't miss dinner. Coco will have my ears if I miss it." The girl said, giving a wide smile. "Want to walk with us, Velvet?" Jett asked, extending a hand to her with a smile on his face. The faunus girl's face lit up, and smirked at Jett. "Sure." she replied. The three shared a smile, and continued to walk down the coridor towards their destination.

 **...**

The three let the mess hall's door close behind them as they entered into the room. "Wow, alot of people in one place." Jett remarked. "You get used to it. Have you not eaten here before?" Velvet asked, surprised. "For the past two weeks, I've been eating other places than Beacon." he scratched his head. _Thing is, Qrow has been treating me everytime I do well in his training. And, apparently, I've been doing very well._ Jett thought to himself. "Velvet!" a feminine voice exclaimed. Jett looked up, and saw a medium-height, well-dressed woman walking over towards us. To put it bluntly, she's everything Miranda is, with Matilda's good fasion sense. Dark sunglasses and a brown beret framed the upper part of her face, her brown hair trailed down the side of her face, the tips ending with a touch of blonde. The way she walked, the way she carried herself: this woman just oozed femininity.

"Coco! Sorry I was late!" Velvet explained, running over to her teammate. "I just passed by Ruby, and saw that she had a boyfriend. I just had to take their picture!" The appropriately named Coco pushed her sungalsses down her nose, and looked at Jett over the rim. After a minute of her uncomfortably analyzing him, she moved her glasses back up, and smirked. The woman confidentally strode over to Jett and Ruby, stopping before them. "Nice to meet you.." Coco said, extending her hand to Jett. He smiled and grabbed her hand to shake. As soon as Jett grabbed Coco's hands to shake, her hand went vicegrip. "Hey!" Jett exclaimed, trying to pull his hand away. The girl smiled, and pulled Jett closer to her, putting her mouth right next to his ear. "...Lover-Boy." she added in a whisper. Letting go of his hand, Coco strode past the dazzed boy, slapping his ass as she passed.

"Hey guys!" a voice on the other side of the hall exclaimed. Yang stood up from her seat and waved over her sister and Jett to their table. "So, I guess we should join them...?" Jett stated, looking back at Ruby, who was currently pouting. "Rubes, you okay?" She frowned, and shook her head. Walking fast past the confused boy, Ruby grabbed his hand and led him over to Yang's table.

"Hey Jett." Eccon said, smiling at the two of them. Jett saw that RWBY and JEMM were all sitting at the same table. The couple sat down on their respective sides with their teams. When Jett looked down the line, he noticed Matilda sitting there with her head down, eating her food in silence. Jett looked at his sister a few minutes longer, trying to figure out what went wrong earlier. The boy noticed several things about his sister that he didn't notice before. A long, jagged scar running along her jawbone, her silver hair was laced with streaks of pink, just like his hair was, and that she wore black-rimmed spectacles. Jett's sister was about 5'6", and petite, with silver and pink hair that reached down to the middle of her back. A green feather charm hung off the back of her left ear. She wore a muted green travelling cloak, over a grey, religious-looking tunic with a collar.

"Yo, Remnant to Jett. Wake up." a voice insisted. Jett snapped back into reality, and noticed that he'd be staring at Matilda unknowingly. The boy quickly looked away. "Sorry, lost in thought." Eccon, who was sitting next to Jett on his right, leaned in a whispered: "You sure you're alright. You were staring pretty hard at your sister there-" Jett shot the faunus boy a look of death. Eccon gave a sheepish grin, scratched his head and went back to eating his food.

Eccon has been by Jett's side since day one, but he never really paid attention to him before. To any of his teammates, really. So, Jett never noticed that Eccon has a scar across the bridge of his nose, or he has a facial tattoo on each of his cheekbones. Eccon is the youngest out of Team JEMM, enrolling at only 16. Jett didn't know anything about the faunus boy, except something tragic happened in his past-A common factor for JEMM, apparently. Eccon is almost as tall as Jett is, coming in at 5'9". Like Jett, he was also wiry. But, unlike Jett, Eccon always wore a smile on his face. His blonde hair only helped to compliment his tan skin and olive green eyes. He wore a brown hankerchief around his neck, and yellow outdoor's vest graced his chest, following a brown long sleeve shirt underneath. His deer antlers jutted proudly out the top of his skull, almost in defiance to gravity.

"Stop teasing him, Bambi." Miranda said coldly. Eccon gave the girl a dirty look, and continued eating. "Woah! Miranda acting as the voice of reason! Will wonders never cease?" Jett exclaimed sarcastically, laughing at his own joke. Shooting him a dirty look, she went back to eating her own food, as well.

Miranda. What is there to say about her? Jett has known the gruff girl since the first day of school, when they "met" at orientation. If by met, you mean a punch to the face with enough force to level a small building. For all her snide remarks and reserved attitude, Jett could tell that she cared somewhat for the team. Miranda is almost as tall as Jett is: 5'8", to be exact. This girl looks a bit wiry, but Jett had seen that she has quite a bit of power hidden in her body. Her tanned skin complimented the green in her eyes, and the green in her hair nicely. A tattooed diamond rested between her eyes, in the middle of her forehead. Silver studs rested in her earlobes, and a beauty mark resided just above her upper lip on the left side. Jett looked down, and looked over the girl's outfit. Miranda wore a muted green punk, army jacket, unzipped in the front, with pockets on either side of the opening. A muted green undershirt was exposed to the open air underneath. Around her neck, hung a silver chain, and green dog collar with a buckle in the front.

"So, you guys ready for Professor Peach's test tomorrow?" Ruby asked JEMM. Eccon looked up at the chipper Ruby, and smiled. "Hell yeah we are!" he exclaimed, making a fist. "Hmph. Speak for yourself. I hate Dust class." Miranda retorted. Weiss narrowed her eyes. "Professor Peach is such an inspiration, though?" the heiress blurted out. "Yeah.. Doesn't make the way she teaches any less boring, though." Weiss huffed, and gave up, pouting. "Hey, maybe the class isn't for everyone, Weiss Cream!" Yang beamed, giving the dismayed heiress a thumbs-up. "Let's just eat, and worry about the test later." Jett called, trying to focus the two teams. "No use worrying about it right now.." Blake said quietly. "Exactly! So let's dig in!"

 **...**

"Ahhhhhh. That was good.." Yang stated, satisfied. She patted her stomach, and belched loudly. "That was great. What are you talking about, Yang?" Jett saidly dreamily, so stuffed he couldn't move. "It was quite filling." Weiss said properly, wiping her mouth with a handkerchief. "Hey, that hurts!" a voice exclaimed from behind them. What he saw was Cardin Winchester, pulling on one of Velvet's ears, with his team snickering about it. "See? I told you they were real." Cardin remarked. "What a freak!" another one of his team commented. "Please stop." Velvet pleaded. Jett caught a redheaded girl to his right looking at the spectalce, shaking her head. "Atrocious." he heard her say. "I can't stand people like him."

Cardin let go of the faunus girl's ear, and she ran off back to her friends at another table. The bully directed his attention to Jett and smiled and evil smile. Cardin looked back at his team, and gestured for them to follow him. They collectively got up, and headed for the door, a bit of swagger in Cardin steps as he left. _Ugh. I hate him._ "Piece of work, isn't he?" Yang asked, smirking. "Yeah, a bit." Jett replied. He started picking up his plates up from the table. "Here, I'll take this up to the front. You guys start heading back." Ruby smiled. "Aw, aren't you nice?" she cooed. "You wouldn't be sucking face with him if he wasn't." Yang commented, giving a sly smile. "YANG!" Jett let out a chuckle, and turned to walk up to the front.


	19. Chapter 19: Nip It In The Bud

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 19: Nip It In The Bud**

"Thanks, kid." the man at the counter said to Jett when he returned the plates he was holding. "You know we usually pick them all up after everyone leaves, right?" Jett shrugged. "I know that it's a hard job to feed all of us. It's the least I can do for you." The man smiled. "It's good to know some of you superheroes look out for the little guy. See ya, kid." Jett started to walk away, but after that last bit, he couldn't just leave it at that. "Hey!" he exclaimed, trying to stop the man from walking into the back with the dishes. "Hmm? What do you need?" "When you said that it's good that some of us "superheroes" look out for the little guy, what did you mean?" Jett asked. "That? Nothing. Was just trying to make conversation." Jett pressed the man. "Is someone trying to get you fired?"

The man fidgeted slightly, and dropped his voice. "Fine, if you wanna be nosy." The man whispered, leaning closer to Jett from behind the counter. "You remember that piece of work that walked out after harrassing that faunus girl?" Jett cocked his head to the side. "Cardin?" "Shhh, keep your voice down!" the man hissed. "Sorry." Jett apologized dropping his voice. "All the cooks here know not to mess with him because of his family." The man started. "But, I accidentally said something off the cuff to him one day, and now Cardin is holding it over my head, blackmailing me about it." Jett turned to the man. "Why haven't you gone to the Headmaster about this?" Jett asked. "Because he threatened to send goons after my family back in Vale!" The man hissed. "This is unacceptable. I'll take care of him." Jett nodded. "You're out of your league, kid." The young man grinned. "You apparently didn't hear what I did to him two weeks ago." Jett remarked. Pushing himself off the counter, he turned to leave. "Thanks for the info!" Jett exclaimed, waving to the confused man as he walked out the doors

 **...**

Looking around as he walked down the cooridor, Jett tried to find Cardin in the halls before he went to his team's dorm. Finally, after some time, he found him and his team picking on a blonde-haired boy wearing ancient-looking armour, and a black and red hoodie underneath. "Cardin, I think you misheard me! I never said that YOU should dunk your head in the river, I just said..." the boy explained nervously. "Stow it, Arc." Cardin responded curtly, getting more in the boy's face. "If you don't take it back, me and my team is going to make life veeery difficult for you, Jauney-Boy." The blonde boy threw his hands up. "Fine! I'm sorry!" he exclaimed. Cardin smirked. "Nah, I don't think he means it. Why don't we show him what it means to cross Cardin Winchester?" he asked. His teammates all gave an evil grin. Cardin cocked his fist back, ready to pummel this blonde boy.

Jett's body moved on it's own accord. In a flash of light, he was in front of the blonde boy, blocking Cardin's fist with his palm. "Enough. He said he was sorry, Cardin." Jett stated, coldly. A fire lit in Cardin's eyes as he locked his with Jett's. "Oswind." He growled. Using his Aura, Jett pushed the armor-clad man off with the strength boost it gave him. The young man reached into his back pocket, and slowly pulled out his Scroll, trying to keep it out of sight. He opened the device, and pinged his teammates to his location, stashing it back into his pocket.

"This is the last time you'll humiliate me, Oswind. This time," Cardin started, charging at Jett with his shoudler out. "I'LL KILL YOU!" Jett flexed his legs, and flipped over Cardin's back, and let him smack his face on the wall behind him. Cardin's three other teammates: Russel, Sky, and Dove, joined in on the fight. Russel flipped through the air, and kicked Jett into the ground. Sky came up fast on Jett's right side, and spun around to his backside, putting Jett into a Full-Nelson. Cardin shook the confusion out of his head, saw that his teammates were helping, and smirked. "I get the first punch!" Cardin exclaimed, cracking his knuckles. He cocked his fist back, and punched Jett in the stomach as hard as he could. "Gah!" Jett exclaimed, spewing blood out of his mouth.

Cardin continued to wail on Jett for several minutes, his teammates smiling cruelly at the exchange. Jett tried to maintain his composure to the best of his abilities, but to no avail. The only thing he could do was wait for his team to arrive. _What?_ Jett spotted the blonde-haired boy getting up behind Cardin. He reached for his sword at his waist, unsheathing it slowly. _No, don't do it._ Jett thought, gritting his teeth at the pain. _You'll only make things worse._ "You leave him alone!" the boy yelled, running at Cardin, both hands gripping the handle of his sword. He swung the blade at Cardin's head. The cruel boy smirked, and stepped to the side, avoiding the swing entirely.

"Guess I'll have to deal with you now!" he said enthusiastcially. Cardin pulled out his mace, and swung at the blonde boy's head: The hit would never connect. A split second before the hit connected, green vines wrapped around Cardin's arm holding his mace, wrenching it back, taut. A shocked Cardin dropped his mace, and looked back down the hallway. Jett followed his gaze, and smiled. "We can't leave you for five minutes without you getting into trouble, can we?" Eccon, and the rest of team JEMM walked confidently to the scene of the fight.

Matilda looked at Sky, and activated her Semblance, staring straight into his eyes. "Drop. Him. Now." she growled, her eyes flaring at the last part. Sky gave a confused look, and obeyed, dropping Jett to the floor. Matilda looked away, turning her Semblance back off again. Dove looked at Jett, and gave an evil smile. He rushed over to Jett's side to try and attack him. A glint of red shone out, and a laser cut across Dove's path, making a scorch mark on the floor. The scared boy looked up, and saw Miranda holding her arm aloft, red smoke trailing off the laser emitters she just used on her gauntlet. "No touch, Bird-brain." Miranda chastised, wagging a finger at the boy.

In all the commotion, Jett's eyes filled with electricity, and he teleported himself to JEMM's side, holding his side with his hands. "Are you okay?" Matilda asked. "No. I think four of my ribs are broken, and now my Aura is gone." Jett responded, wincing at the pain. Miranda smiled. "Then let us take care of this, fearless leader." she said, pounding her fists together. "Just give me a few minutes, and I'll be back in the fight; Aura will take care of most of it for me." Jett retorted. "Buying you time? Sounds dull, but let's try and take these guys out!" Eccon exclaimed, pulling out his own weapon. Matilda sighed, pulling out her long swords, and loading Gravity Dust in the crossguards. Cardin yanked his arm back, ripping it out of the vines enveloping it. He picked back up his mace, and slung it over his shoulder. The rest of his team pulled out their respective weapons: a bronze short-sword, twin revolver daggers, and a folding halberd.

"This will decide which deserves to be here!" Cardin exclaimed. Russel and Dove ran out from behind Cardin and attacked Matilda and Miranda. Matilda put her swords in an X, and blocked Dove's initial attack. Miranda put her gauntlets in front of her, and likewise blocked Russel's attack, his daggers bouncing off the metal on the backs. Sky targetted Jett, running towards him. "Oh, no you don't!" Eccon exclaimed, eyes lighting up. Vines erupted from the floor, and bound Sky's feet in place. Eccon turned his blade so it was facing Sky's shins, and swung. Sky swiped at his feet with his halberd, and backflipped out of the way of Eccon's weapon. The faunus boy swung his polearm around his head, and lashed out at Sky again. "I'll show you why I call my weapon: Nature's Edge!" Eccon exclaimed.

"My turn!" Cardin shouted, barreling for Jett at full speed. "No. You. Don't!" Miranda yelled, punctuating her words with blows she was taking from Russel. She pushed her attacker back about three feet, and activated her Semblance, an aura of green energy whipping around her. Miranda launched herself forward, and was within melee range of Cardin. Time seemed to slow for Jett as he watched Miranda's fist connect with Cardin's face, redirecting his attacker through the nearest wall and into the courtyard outside. The rest of Cardin's teammates looked to their fallen comrade, distracting themselves from their enemies they were fighting. Eccon and Matilda gave each other a look, and sent Sky and Russel through the hole Miranda created with a synchronized drop kick to each.

Dove looked back forward, and tried to rush Jett, who was still on the ground. Jett looked up at the attacker, and his eyes filled with yellow. The young man's Aura flared golden around him, and he activated his Semblance. Time slowed around Jett as focused on the spot right in front of where Dove was running to. Lightning cloaked his body, and he disappeared on the spot, appearing at the place he was thinking of. "Surprise!" Jett exclaimed, smiling. "I'm back in the fight!" Using his momentum, Jett Spartan-kicked the young man through the wall, creating a smaller hole next to the one Miranda created. Jett stood up, and quickly flipped out Ebony & Ivory, rushing into the fight outside.

What Jett saw was pandemonium: Matilda was fighting Sky off to the right, her blades dancing the dance of Death, weaving in and out of Sky's melee range. Eccon engaged Russel. Mr. Thrush dashed in and out of Eccon's range taking swipes at his sides, only to have the Faunus boy block his blows at the last second. Miranda engaged Cardin directly, staring down the big linebacker. He smiled, and raised his mace above his head, and smashed it into the ground. The force around the blow broke apart the pavement at his feet. Miranda looked disapprovingly at the bully. "Hmm, not impressed, prick!" she jeered. Cardin's smile contorted from a smile into a scowl immediately. The young man charged at the snide female, his mace held aloft.

"Enough.." Jett whispered to himself, clenching his hands into fists. Jett's Aura slowly started to stir around him. Multiple lights shone from beneath his eyelids, and he closed his eyes. "Enough!" Jett forced his eyes open, and his irises shone with three colours: Blue, Yellow, and Green, all segmented into a pinwheel shape within his eyes. Time slowed to a stop around Jett, yellow lightning wreathed all of Jett's limbs, and a blue time warp started to form around Cardin. Jett's face contorted into a grimmace, and he teleported directly to Cardin's front. Jett turned off Time Dilation, and time went back to normal, losing two colours from his eyes, leaving the glowing blue hue to his eyes. "W-What...How did you..?" Cardin stuttered, shocked as Jett just appeared in front of him suddenly. "Two words: Mirror Blade." Jett huffed.

On command, time distorted around the two of them. Mirror images of Jett appeared all around them, swords outstretched. "Why...How..?" Cardin stuttered again. "This is my place." Jett explained. "Doesn't mean that I still can't kill you!" Cardin yelled. The young man took a single step forward, and two copies of Jett dashed across Cardin faster than he could react, raking their blades across his sides. The young man fell to a knee, clutching his side. Jett bent down, and looked Cardin in the eye.

"Don't. Ever. Hurt. My. Team. Again. Are we clear?" Jett growled. Cardin spit in Jett's eye. The young Hunter blinked once, and wiped the spit away, frowning. He snapped his fingers together, and five more Jett's winked into existence, and repeated the same actions as their first copies. Carin fell to the ground in pain, gasping for breath. Jett grabbed the bully by the hair, and yanked him up into a sitting position. "Last chance. Leave them alone, or else?" If hate could be felt in terms of heat, Jett was sure that Cardin was close to a nuclear meltdown at the moment. The boy spit out a glob of blood on to the ground. "...fine." Cardin said through his teeth. Jett smiled. "Then, we're done here." Jett's eyes returned to their natural colour, and he slumped down slightly in exhaustion.

 **Author's Note:**

Hello, everyone! Molvefman24 here! I just wanted to say that I'm overjoyed that my fanfic has gotten the buzz it has recieved thus far. I know my writing skills are not the greatest, and I have a long way to go before I'm one of the greats. Since I have you guys here, I'd like to address something that has come to my attention. I have been getting several reviews that have been less than ideal, and that's fine. The first two I recieved were decent critism, albeit a bit misplaced. The last one I recieved is why I wanted to make this Author's note. Like I said, I appreciate all your responses to Dark Rose. But constructive critism is needed for me to know what I need to improve on, not the deprication of other people who like my work. I am writing Dark Rose because I enjoy writing it, and I figured others would, as well. So, I'm not going to stop writing when someone tells me it's bad, with no further critism on the material. That being said, thank you for enjoying Chapter 19 of Dark Rose! I hope you enjoy all my future content, too!


	20. Chapter 20: Respite in Likely Places

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 20: Respite in Likely Places**

"Come on. Let's go." Cardin said, waving for his team to follow him. Team CRDL froze immediately at their leader's proclaimation. Cardin himself struggled to get to his feet, even with Dove rushing over to help him up. He staggered to his feet, and used his teammate for support. "We...We should leave for now.." Cardin huffed. The bully looked Jett directly in the eye. He mouthed: _This isn't over_. Jett gave a sly smile despite his own exhaustion. Cardin waved over Russell. "Come on and help me, you idiot." he ordered. A scared-looking Russell gulped, and rushed over to Cardin's side, putting the young man's remaining arm around his shoulder. The team limped back through the large hole in the wall that Miranda had created, and back into the building.

"Ten Lien says that Goodwitch is going to have us clean this up." Eccon joked. "You'd normally be right!" a voice rang out through the courtyard. JEMM turned to see the upset, blonde school teacher walking towards them at a healthy clip, anger rolling off her lithe frame in waves. "But, I'm the only one who can repair this kind of damage." Goodwitch said with a huff. Team JEMM sighed collectively in relief. "So, you'll all just serve detention instead." "Uggggghhh..." The team collectively groaned. In that instant, Jett's Aura decided to fail, and hundreds of cuts rained over his body in a hail storm. Goodwitch looked taken aback by this sudden change. "We need to get you to the-" "Just give him a minute." Eccon cut across her quickly. "But-" "Trust us."

Jett wounds healed minutes after his Aura recovered; these ones were not quite as bad as ones he had gotten when he faced Tyrion. Jett winced at where the wounds were, gingerly touching the skin. "I am never going to get used to that ability.." he mumbled to himself. Eccon turned back to the teacher. "See? Good as new!" he remarked. Professor Goodwitch closed her mouth, and readjusted her glasses. "Well, this just means that you'll be able to serve detention sooner." she smiled.

The Professor pulled out what looked to be a retractable riding crop from a pouch behind her, and pointed it a the hole in the wall. Purple smoke trailed off her instrument, and the stone rubble surrounding the wall started to glow with purple energy. Slowly and methodically, the pieces of the wall lifted into the air, and landed back in their respective places, like puzzle pieces. Jett watched with awe as the chucks of the wall fit together perfectly, finally making a perfect wall, as if nothing happened.

Goodwitch blinked twice, and smiled, satisfied with her work. She directed her attention back at the 4 of them. "Now, back to business." She stated sternly. The blonde teacher pointed towards the entrance, directing them to move. Team JEMM hung their heads, and followed the teacher back into the school reluctantly.

 **...**

*Tick Tock* *Tick Tock* *Tick Tock* Jett looked up at the clock against the far wall. _9:30PM._ He sighed, bracing his face against his palm. _I don't know if I can go through another hour of this.._ Jett looked back down at his paper in front of him. _Advanced Dust Theory.. Why does anyone need to learn this to fight Grimm?_ He thought to himself, furrowing his brow at the subject. Suddenly, Jett's Scroll went off in his pocket. Looking around to see if Goodwitch was looking, he dived his hand into his pocket, and fished out his Scroll. As he opened it, he noticed that there was an unread message from Ruby flashing on the center of the screen. _Hmm.. I wonder what she needed..?_ Jett thought to himself as he clicked on the message to open.

 **Ruby: Hey, you. Are you busy? I wondering if we could meet somewhere? :)**

Jett smiled at Ruby's message. Just the thought of her made him happy. He frowned, as he looked around at his current predicament. Focusing back on the keyboard, he responded.

 **Jett: I'd love to, Rubes. But I'm serving detention with my team right now.. :/**

Jett stashed his Scroll into his pocket quickly as Goodwitch walked by. As soon as the Professor rounded back to her desk, Jett whipped back out his Scroll and hid it underneath the table, as he talked to his girlfriend. He saw that Ruby had already messaged him back.

 **Ruby: Awwww...I really wanted to see you tonight. Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeaaaaaassssssseee? With sugar, spice and Zwei on top?**

 **Jett: Who's Zwei? O_o**

 **Ruby: Oh! Zwei's my Corgi! And he's the sweetest little puppy!**

 **Jett: As much as I like to have dogs on top of my ice cream, I can't do it right now, Rubes. I'm not leaving my team to serve this alone. What kind of leader would I be?**

 **Ruby: Yeah, you're right... What about after? Are you getting out soon?**

 **Jett: We get out of detention in an hour. So, 10:30PM?**

 **Ruby: Perfect! That'll give me plenty of time!**

 **Jett: Wait, plenty of time for what? O.o**

 **Ruby: Can't talk! Gotta go! See you then, Jett!**

Jett put down his Scroll, and looked forward, only to be meeted with the slender legs of the Professor. He looked up, and saw Goodwitch's outstretched hand, motioning for him to hand over his Scroll. * _Sigh_ * He gave it over without a word, dropping his head in shame. Snickering off to the side caught Jett's attention, and he saw Eccon laughing slightly. The young man shot him a frustrated look, much to Eccon's amusement. An irritated Jett faced forward again, and began to work on the paper in front of him.

 **...**

Jett groaned as he rose from his seat, stretching his muscles from being idle for so long. _*Beep Beep* *Beep Beep*_ Professor Goodwitch looked down at her own Scroll, and turned off the alarm she set. "Alright, you are all free to go, students." she stated calmly. Jett started to walk off, when he felt a firm hand on his shoudler. Goodwitch thrust his Scroll forward, turning him around to face her. "Here." Jett gratefully took his device back from the teacher. "And if I see you messaging someone else again while in detention, you won't just get a slap on the wrist!" she exclaimed, punctuating her last word with a slap on the table from her riding crop. Jett swallowed hard, and nodded with a scared expression on his face. Goodwitch opened an eye. "Well, what are you still doing here? Go. I have to prepare for bed." Cracking a quick smile, Jett whipped open the door leading out, and ran down the hallway.

 **...**

"And...here it is..?" Jett said quizically, looking around at a deserted overlook. Since Jett left detention, Ruby had been feeding him misleading directions via Scroll message. Her final message had led him here, to this overlook, which admittedly gave a pretty good view of the surrounding forest. "Grrr...It looks like she's been sending me on a wild goose chase.." Jett stated, looking dejected. The young man took a seat on the ground, and let his feet swing over the edge. _It really is a nice night, though._ Jett thought to himself. _Air feels just right. Not too hot, not too cold. There's a slight breeze, and there's not a single cloud in the sky. Almost perfect, even._

So absorbed he was in his thoughts, that Jett failed to notice the young girl with red and black hair who had snuck up behind him. She put her arms around his head covering his eyes, and rested her chin on his head. "Guess who?" Ruby whispered. Jett put a finger to his lips, and pretended to think about it. After a minute, he put down his hand, and shrugged. "No clue." he responded, blank look on his face. Ruby flinched, and he felt her grip loosen on his head a bit. Jett smirked, and patted Ruby on her head. "Of course I know it's you, Rubes." he smiled from underneath her arms. The young Huntress beamed, and leaned down to kiss Jett's hair. She released her arms after one final hug, and helped him up off the ground.

 _Oh. My. Gods. I think I may be in love._ As Jett turned around to face the young girl, he was taken back by what she was wearing. Jett had only ever seen Ruby in her combat skirt outfit, with her hood on her back. But this...He was lovestruck. She wore a dark pink, light jacket, that cut off at her elbows, and was open in the front. Underneath, she wore a muted yellow u-neck shirt, that extended just under her breasts, exposing her stomach and midriff to the open air. On her waist, she wore simple, black faded jeans that seemed to hug her curves. Around her neck, hung a matte black choker, with an intricately designed silver rose attatched to the left side. She wore her hair in her usual style, but Jett happened to notice silver studs in her ears, hiding just underneath her bangs. Ruby also appeared to be wearing light makeup; only a bit of mascara and lipgloss. And perfume. Jett noticed that the air around them smelled sweetly of roses in bloom.

"What's the matter? Faunus got your tongue?" Ruby teased playfully. "Uh...I, uh..." Jett tried to get out his words, but he was dumbfounded. He's always seen Ruby as a conservative girl. She's always looked cute to him, but now...Now she is absolutely radiating feminine charm and beauty. Jett couldn't help himself, he kissed her as fast as he could. Ruby's look of sudden surprise was soon replaced by one of love. The two parted as soon as they embraced, both looking away embarassed. "Jeeze, Jett.. At least let me sit down first." She teased. "Yeah...sorry.." Jett trailed off, scratching the back of his head. The two sat down in Jett's spot, and began to talk.

"So, you know everything about my life, Rubles." Jett started. "Why don't you tell me about yours?" The temperature dropped around the two slightly. Ruby looked away from Jett, and at the ground below. Jett grabbed for her hand, and squeezed tightly. "Is it any worse than my past?" Jett asked. Ruby shook her head. "No, it's just...hard to talk about." she responded, barely audible. "Take your time, I'm here." Jett smiled sincerly. Ruby looked up from the ground, and gave a weak smile to her boyfriend. She pecked him on the cheek, and rested her head on his shoulder.

The two of them sat there in silence for a while, just taking in the night around them. Jett felt he had to break the silence before things got too awkward, but Ruby started first. "Back when I was little, I had two parents around. My mom, Summer Rose, and my dad, Taiyang Xiao-Long." Ruby began. Taking a breath, she continued. "Along with Yang, and my Uncle Qrow, we were all we had. My Mom would bake me my favorite chocolate chip cookies when I was feeling sad, and Dad would sing me bedtime stories at the end of a bad day, to help me fall asleep happy."

Ruby's eyes glistened as small tears started to form. She wiped them away quickly, and continued on. "I used to go to school at Signal Academy, where my Uncle Qrow would teach. He would teach me and look after me, then I'd go home and see Mom and Dad at the end of the day." "One day, after Uncle Qrow wasn't teaching, I went home to find that Mom and my Uncle had gone away on a mission together." "That seems normal though, doesn't it?" Jett asked. He put a hand on her head, and started to stroke Ruby's hair to calm her. She nodded. "Yeah, but this time something was off. Dad wasn't going with them. See, he, Uncle Qrow, Mom, and one other were on a team together called STRQ. So, they'd go on missions together all the time."

"Their mission lasted longer than it should. Dad, Yang, and I started to worry about them." Ruby stopped suddenly. Her hand was quivering in Jett's grip. "F-finally, after 3 weeks, Uncle Qrow came back alone. He was delerious and near-death, holding a scrap of white and red fabric to his chest. He was raving that 'It was all his fault.' and 'It should have been h-him.'" Ruby's voice caught, and tears started to fall in streams down her pale face. Jett felt terrible. He shouldn't have asked Ruby about this. _Dammit._ "I am so sorry, Ruby." Jett said morosely. She shook her head from side to side, tears landing on Jett's jacket. "I-it's n-not your f-fault. Y-you didn't k-k-know." Ruby choked out as the tears came flooding out. She turned to Jett, and buried her face in the young man's shoulder, her arms wrapping tighly around his neck. Jett took a hand and started stroking Ruby's soft hair in an attempt to calm her down, to no effect. He withdrew his hand, and placed it on her back.

Ruby lifted her head off Jett's shoulder, and looked him in the eye. She looked down his face, and locked lips tightly with the young man. The two lovers closed their eyes, and let their feelings overwhelm their senses. Minute after minute, waves of passion washed over the two, as their lips never left the other for more than a few seconds at a time. Ruby's hands left their resting spot on Jett's back, and made their way to his waist. Jett's eyes snapped open when he felt Ruby's hands rest on his belt buckle. Jett broke their kiss, and put his hands up between the two of them.

"Whoa. W-we need to stop." Jett huffed, trying to calm his racing heart. The scarlet-haired girl looked up at Jett with confusion, then looked down at where her hands were on Jett's body. With a deep, heavy blush, Ruby withdrew her hands quickly, and put them together in between her legs. "I...I'm sorry. I-I didn't mean to.." Ruby apologized, firmly staring at the pavement. Jett laughed. "It's okay. I know that it was an emotional moment, and we both kind of lost control a bit." "Yeah..." Ruby smiled faintly, still looking at the ground.

"Come here." Ruby looked up to see her boyfriend holding an arm open, inviting her closer. The young girl smiled with a slight blush, and scooted over to Jett's side. He drapped his arm around her shoulder, and pulled her in tight. Ruby wrapped an arm around his waist, and snuggled up closer to him. The two sat in silence for several minutes, before Ruby spoke up. "I'm sorry.." she apologized. "What for?" Jett looked over, surprised. "For breaking down earlier like that." Jett chuckled. "What?" Ruby asked. "There's no need to be sorry, Rubes." He looked directly into her eyes. "We've both had a messed up life so far. It's up to the both of us to help each other out, whenever we need to." Jett stated, confidently. Ruby rested her head on Jett's shoulder, sighing. "You are such a dork." she stated, smiling. "Yeah. Yeah, I am..." Jett responded wistfully. The two lovers looked up at the sky, and took in the night around them, thankful to be where they are.

Author's Note: I'd like to apologize about the delay on this chapter. I recently lost my job, which also was the place where I had the best ideas for this fanfiction. It's been hard trying to write this at home, but I've been trying my best! That being said, this chapter might be of different quality than my others because of that. Also, this is the end of this Arc, and the end of Vol.1 for this fanfiction. Next chapter, will be in Vol.2! Shoutout to Maenos Kaen for letting me use the outfit that I had Ruby wear in this chapter! If you have no clue who I'm talking about, search up the name "JPDE" on Tumblr, and you'll come across his page, and the game he's developing! It's where I got Ruby's costume change from! Thank you guys for reading what I've got so far. I hope you enjoy what I've got in store for the future!


	21. Chapter 21: A Semblance of Normal

**Dark Rose**

 **Chapter 21: A Semblance of Normal**

 **-Three Months Later-**

"AHHHHH!" Jett screamed as he was sent flying into the nearest tree. The back of the young man's head smacked the bark with a dull thud. Jett closed his eyes, and tried to focus on the dull throbbing coming from his lobe. "Heads up, kid!" an energetic, gravley voice called out. Jett's eyes snapped open in time to see a middle-aged Hunter with grey and black hair, bring down his scythe in an arc over his head. "Shit!" Jett swore, as he feinted to the side, barely dodging the weapon. The man's scythe cut where Jett had been, slicing the tree in half in the blink of an eye.

"C'mon, kid. Can't you do anything but dodge?" The man smirked, looking over his shoudler at Jett, a gleam in his red eye. "Might...be able to...if I had my weapons back, Qrow." Jett huffed, putting a hand to his throbbing heart. The dusty, old drunk cracked a smile, and whipped around, whirling his scythe around his body like a cyclone. Qrow wagged a finger at Jett. "Not this time, bud. This is an exercise where you can't use your weapons or your Semblance." Qrow stopped his blade at his side, and flexed his knees. "And it's 'Mr. Qrow' to you." Jett smirked. "You know I'm never going to call you that." Qrow shrugged. "As you wish."

The dusty, old crow exploded forward in movement, bringing his scythe around his side. Jett's eyes narrowed as he watched his teacher approach rapidly. At the last possible second, Jett hit the deck, hard. He allowed the man to soar over him. Qrow looked down, and surprise filled his face. He saw his student flip on his back, and kick upwards with both of his legs, sending both of Jett's feet into the old man's stomach. "Oof!" Qrow grunted. Using his Aura, Jett pumped his feet and launched Qrow into the air. The shock of the surprise, and the initial attack, had such an effect that Qrow dropped his weapon. Getting back to his feet quickly, Jett grabbed the Huntsman's dropped scythe.

"No!" Qrow bellowed, seeing Jett grab his beloved scythe. In a blink of an eye Qrow's form disappeared, and was replaced by a crow with silver streaks in it's feathers. "What?" Jett cried, seeing Qrow's transformation happen before his eyes. The young man shook his head quickly, and tried to pick up the fallen scythe. _Damn, this is heavier than it looks._ Jett thought, managing to sling the weapon over one shoulder. A crow's caw caught Jett's attention, and looked up in time to see Qrow coming out of the sky like a bullet, heading straight for Jett. Reacting fast, Jett flexed his knees and jumped into the air. The bird flapped it's wings in surprise, and tried to slow it's descent. Too little, too late.

"Haaaaaaaaaah!" Jett exclaimed, as he powered up his muscles with what little Aura he had left. Slashing the weapon in an arc in front of him, Jett attacked the backpeddaling bird. _*Slice*_ A clean, deep cut appeared across the crow's abdomen briefly before a red Auric barrier winked into existence, and the old man transformed back to normal instantly. Jett's grip slipped, and the momentum from the blade sent the scythe carreening off to the side in a whirlwind. In that moment, the door to the cabin opened. "What's all the ruckus out he-" the man's question was cut short when he looked up and saw a scythe coming at him at lethal speeds. "Shit!" the man exclaimed, ducking down. The scythe buried itself in the doorframe above the man's head. The man looked back up, and saw the two Huntsmen hanging in the air for a minute, before falling to the ground with a _*thud*_.

"The hell are you guys doing?" Jett Sr bellowed, rubbing the bridge of his nose with his human hand. "You nearly took off my head! The side without Aura! You could have killed me, you idiots!" Qrow, who was on top of Jett, raised a finger in the air. "Technically, I did nothing wrong." he hiccuped. Jett growled. "Get off me.." the young man mumbled from beneath the drunk, pushing his teacher off him abruptly. Jett Sr grunted, shaking his head. The hulking man turned to walk back inside the cabin. He stopped before entering, and yanked the scythe free of the wood of the doorframe with his Grimm hand. "And take your damn weapon!" Jett Sr. barked, throwing Qrow's weapon off to the side.

"What a bother." Qrow sighed, picking himself off the ground. The Hunstman dusted off his pants and cape, and headed for the cabin in kind. Jett took a look at his surroundings for a moment. It had been a hectic couple of months since that night at the overlook with Ruby. School work has been non-stop. Between Professor Port's boring speeches that put him to sleep, and Professor Oobleck and Prof. Peach's literal mound of work that they had been giving the students, Jett has barely been able to train outside of the beatings he had been getting in Professor Goodwitch's classes.

In a way, he was grateful to Qrow for taking the time to train him. He could feel that his blows were getting sharper, and he was learning to think with his head. Jett paused for a moment. _When was the last time I spent some time with Ruby?_ He pondered. Jett really hasn't had the time to see Ruby very much, now that he thought about it. Briefly, they'd chat and have awkward couple talk in passing when they were trying to get to class. Jett smiled at the thought of his scarlet-haired girlfriend. _I'll see if she's free this weekend, so that we could spend some time together._

"Hey, kid!" a voice rung out. Jett looked up and saw Qrow leaning against the side of the open doorway leading into the cabin. "You coming in? Or you just gonna keep day-dreaming?" the drunk asked, smirk on his face. Jett sighed. "Yeah, I'll be right behind you." he answered, looking over his shoulder at Beacon Tower in the distance. _This arrangement with Qrow is turning out to be a pretty good thing._ Jett thought, turning back around. _I wonder if anyone notices that I'm usually nowhere to found when lunch comes around..?_ Jett shook his head, and began walking towards the cabin's open door.

 **...**

"Make sure you come back out next week!" Jett Sr. yelled out to his departing son. "We'll have more information about Salem to discuss." Jett looked over his shoulder and smiled, giving a thumbs-up. The young man turned back forward, and begun to walk towards the outcropping of the clearing that the cabin was in. Pulling a branch back aside from a shrub, Jett found the path that he had taken earlier to get there. The Huntsman-to-Be's ear twitched as a twig snapped off to the side of him. Jett whipped his head in the direction, and caught a glimpse of a figure running away. Seconds passed as Jett watched the figure run away, before it eventually disappeared into the underbrush. Still casting a wary glance in the general direction of the figure, he continued down the barely noticable path before him. _What was that?_

 **...**

Jett emerged from the treeline surrounding the school, yawning and stretching his muscles until he heard a satisfying *pop*. The young man still had an uneasy feeling that someone was following him, even this close to the school. Jett surveyed the area around him for any sign of the stalker that had been following him from earlier. Nothing. He couldn't see anything out of the ordinary with the trees, or the school itself. Relaxing his shoulders, Jett sighed and continued to head for the school.

 **-On a Nearby Tree-**

The blonde boy shook his head as he watched the black and pink-haired boy leave the forest and enter the school grounds. "I knew you were hiding something, Jett.." The blonde boy sighed. "So," The young man looked over his shoulder, and gave a quick nod to his partner. "You satisfied with your answer?" asked the other boy. The blonde dropped his gaze, and reluctantly nodded in response. "Well, I held up my end of the offer. Now it's time for your's." The boy held out his hand to the blonde. "Yeah, okay. I'll join your little group, Xicor." The blonde said, looking up at the hulking boy. "Welcome to the White Fang, Eccon Browning." The two Faunus grasped each other's forearm tightly in a firm agreement.


End file.
